Golden West Broadcasting's Project Patio 2024 wrapped up this past Saturday with a blockbuster Grand Finale in the Rona parking lot in the west of Portage la Prairie.
Thousands of entrees made their way into the contest which was narrowed down to 100 contestants who received invitations to attend the Grand Prize. The first prize awarded was a $50 gift card to Gr8 Car Wash to a contestant who travelled the furthest, having made his way from Arborg. Then the games began starting with Plinko.
Even numbers were the targets as contestants dropped a wooden puck down the Plinko board.
Next came the roll of a large die, and once again, even numbers rolled determined the winners who would go on in the overall finale.
Contestants with a certain trump of card next randomly chose either pink or blue cubes from a bag, with the blue cubes determining the winners of that round.
Finally, the spinning wheel determined the next group of contestants.
Once these four group winners were chosen, cards were drawn to narrow down the group who would then see eliminations to bring the grand prize draw down to ten people. These ten people had to choose one of ten framed sponsor logos including one from Golden West Broadcasting.
As hearts were pounding, among all the thousands who initially sent in entrees, one of those ten would win the grand prize of a complete patio set comprised of a metal gazebo, sectional patio set made of two benches, a fire pit, storage container, and a barbecue.
Logos of the sponsors were drawn until two contestants were left. One of those two would win the grand prize. Shewfelt's Plumbing and Heating and Blue Moon Water were the two logos remaining. When Ryan Simpson was handed the drawn grand prize winning logo, Shewfelt's Plumbing and Heating was the logo, and Valerie James screamed when her name was announced for this years Project Patio set. She explained how she entered, seeing as people could enter online or by calling into the radio show in the morning.
"I know I'm going to have to wait for my son to pick up the prize because I only have a Chevy Cruze," said James. "I listen to you, Ryan Simpson, in the morning, and you said, 'Now's the time to enter.' Every morning I entered with Ryan Simpson on the radio."
James made it through every round and she describes how she felt when she heard her name announced as the winner.
"It took right to the end without me thinking I would win. When I held up that Shewfelt logo when it was announced, I went, 'Oh my goodness! I've got it"'"
She was actually the first of the ten who selected a sponsor logo.
"I love Country 93.1 and I love listening to Ryan Simpson every morning. My son said to me, 'Mom, I need a new barbecue. While you're out there, check out the barbecues. My grates in my barbecue have fallen down.' And I said, 'Oh, I'll win it for you,' not realizing I was going to be the big winner!"