LUMBY – Many Lumby residents have been glued to their phones and computers for almost 36 hours. Instead of sleeping or concentrating on school, they are online voting for Lumby in a national contest. They are hoping to put their small village on the map by earning the Hockeyville title with their online votes.
Lumby is the only B.C. community to make it to the top 10 cities in the Kraft Hockeyville competition and now the village is hoping to win it all.
Online voting kicked off Sunday morning to determine which communities become the two finalists.
Lumby residents are doing everything they can to make sure their town is one of those winners.
“Someone has gotten up to 125 votes within 30 minutes. We are doing little challenges now to see who can do what in how much time,” says Angie Clowry, who has been organizing Lumby’s Hockeyville bid.
Read More: Lumby asks for support as Hockeyville voting begins
At Charles Bloom Secondary School in Lumby, the students tapping away at their phones weren’t texting, they were voting for Lumby to win big.
“This was the one time in class when I said you can be on your cell phones today. We opened up WiFi for the school today so the kids are on their phones. They are voting. They are trying to make a difference,” says teacher Leon Kopy.
The village’s information centre has become ballot headquarters. It’s where hockey mom Katie Nagy is one of those forgoing sleep to cast as many online ballots as she can.
“I’ve been at home voting all night. I think I had a nap at about 11:45 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. and then voted till five,” she says.
The top prize is $100,000 for two of the finalist communities to spend on their local arenas. The grand prize winner could get to host a pre-season NHL game. Lumby has already earmarked the cash.
“We have a lot of girls who play hockey and we want to have a proper change room for them that has a bathroom which includes a toilet, a sink, and a shower because they currently have a closet that doesn’t have any of that,” says Clowry.
While voting ends Monday night, Lumby residents won’t know if their online efforts have paid off until next Saturday when the finalists are revealed. After the final two are announced this weekend, there will be another round of voting to determine the overall winner.