Students, elders compete in annual Tongue Twister Tournament Feb. 26

The event is open to the public. In the SMART literacy program, volunteer community members spend time each week reading one-on-one with kids in grades kindergarten through third. Each child gets two books to keep each month, to go with getting to know and love books with the caring companionship of an adult.

This is the third year the tournament has happened on the final Friday of February — the date itself a tongue-twister. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the tournament begins at 7 p.m. Admission is $10 per person at the door, and children under 12 free; beer and wine will be available for sale.

Kim Yasui, Mid-Valley Elementary principal and long-time reading specialist, will present a video and talk about the way SMART impacts youngsters’ ability to learn and read.

Local merchants are donating prizes, and supporters will also be able to sponsor “book packets” for reading at SMART programs at each school, and for taking home. “Chance Auction” prizes are donated by The Fruit Company, Lucy’s Informal Flowers, Columbia Center for the Arts, G. Williker’s, and others. In the chance auction, you buy as many tickets as you want for each prize, thus increasing your odds of having your ticket drawn as the winner of that prize.

Tongue Twister is structured like a spelling bee, with 10 competitors tackling difficult samples of word play — “She sells seashells at the seashore,” for example — with two elimination rounds leading up to the finale.

Many of the tongue twisters are either obscure or have never been heard before, emcee Kirby Neumann-Rea having written them over the past year.

The tournament, Hood River SMART’s only annual fundraising event, is also a chance to learn about the program and how to enlist as a volunteer for the 2016-17 school year. Programs happen in each of the elementary schools and Head Start locations.

In addition to the 10-contestant competition, audience members can make a donation and “try their tongues” in an open mic, for prizes.

Defending champion Morgan Graves, a Hood River Valley High School junior, will be back for more, along with the following contestants:

• Tom Burns of Hood River, an actor and director;

• Kerry Cobb, Columbia Center for the Arts executive director

• Dr. David Russo, Columbia Pain Management, and Hood River County School Board chairman;

• Dae Dahlquist, 11, who advocates on climate change;

• Hannah Hart, award-winning speech and debate competitor at HRVHS;

• Brooke Johnson, Hood River Middle School student;

• Nick Kirby of Odell, orchardist and Boy Scout master;

• Bailey McManus of Hood River, CGCC student;

• Luke Southall, HRMS student;

Local judges will include SMART supporter Don Benton, and Luke McMillan, a 2010 HRVHS graduate now studying opera. McMillan will perform an “opera tongue twister.”