The jellybean jars are back.
Each year, the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce’s Business Promotions Committee organizes a jellybean-counting contest.
Here’s how it works:
If you see a sign indicating there are jellybeans at a business, you walk in and take a few guesses at how many jellybeans are in that particular jar. (You’re allowed multiple guesses in multiple stores.)
Each person who guesses the closest in each store will be declared the winner of that store on the Monday after Easter, April 17, and be entered into a $200 drawing.
The grand prize winner will be chosen Tuesday, April 18, at the chamber offices at 15 North Ocean Avenue, just north of the Four Corners in Patchogue.
This year, 32 businesses are participating, ranging from services such as the Cirigliano Agency on Route 112, to bars and restaurants, including That Meetball Place and Village Idiot Pub.
The Patchogue-Medford Library also has jellybean jars.
(The full list appears atop the chamber’s website at patchogue.com.)
No one knows exactly how long the annual jellybean-counting contest has been happening, but longtime chamber members tell us a least 25 years.
Some shops, like W.M.J. O’Neill’s, offer their own prizes to the individual winner.
And others get creative. Check out The Amazing Olive’s take on the jellybean contest!
Photo: Tiffany Rivera of Roast Coffee & Tea Trading Co. poses Monday with Roast’s jellybean jar, along with box overflowing with guesses. (Michael White)
