Taken from an article by Susan E. Hoffman in the Sun Herald.

The premise of “cow chip bingo” is simple: Mark a field off in a numbered grid and sell each grid block.

Bring a well-fed cow to the field and let her wander around freely until she “places a chip” wherever she wants. Whoever has bought the grid square where the cow has left her “calling card” wins a pile of money.

The North Port High School Band Booster Club has been using Cow Chip Bingo as a novel fundraiser for five years. The first year they ran it, they were raising money for the Drum & Bugle Corps to play in the Sugar Bowl in Louisiana — quite an honor for a school that had not even been open for one full year.

Saturday marked the fifth year that the Boosters have used Cow Chip Bingo to raise money for the band’s trip.

In May, the Drum & Bugle Corps, along with the school’s Jazz Band and Concert Band, plans to travel to Washington, D.C. to take part in the Cherry Blossom Parade. They will be there from May 2 through May 7.

“We hope to have raised $5,000 with this year’s bingo,” said treasurer Troy Yeager. “However, the students didn’t get their money and tickets in by last night, like they were supposed to, so we’re still counting.” Tickets were sold for $5 for each grid block, or five blocks for $20.

On Saturday, Katy Bryan-Beacher of Myakka brought her black angus heifer, Athena, to volunteer at the NPHS football field. Almost 5,000 grid squares had already been sold. Katy led Athena out of her trailer and set her loose in the grassy field.

It took Athena a full 45 minutes before she did what she was brought to North Port for, and when she was done, grid square 1461 was the lucky winner. It took a little research for Booster Club officials to determine that the winning ticket belonged to Emily Paulycarpe, who will get $1,000. Bobby Carr sold the winning entry.