Trivia nights are part of the culture of St. Louis. On weekends it鈥檚 not uncommon to find , which are most often fundraisers for nonprofit organizations.
Phil Donato is St. Louis鈥� 鈥淭rivia Guy.鈥� He鈥檚 is also the marketing, events and outreach manager at 漏 2024 外网天堂.
鈥淚t just brings a lot of people together 鈥� friends, families and co-workers to unwind. It鈥檚 a blue-collar, informal thing,鈥� Donato told 鈥淪t. Louis on the Air鈥� host Don Marsh on Wednesday.
Donato has written questions or served as a trivia moderator for more than 120 organizations. He first moderated a trivia night in 1993 but for the last 10 years, has averaged annually more than 40 trivia events.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really important to realize that most of the people there aren鈥檛 trivia experts, they鈥檙e there for the cause or for the people at the table to have a fun evening. I try to write (questions) for the folks in the middle,鈥� Donato said.
An stated that trivia nights started in St. Louis during the Trivial Pursuit era of the 1980s:
鈥淎ccording to a 1993 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a local couple, Pete and Judy Johnson, brought the idea back from Australia, where Pete had worked on an engineering project and trivia had long since migrated out of bars and into the fundraising bloodstream.
After the Johnsons organized a trivia night fundraiser for Kennerly Elementary School in St. Louis County, the idea spread throughout that district, then to local churches and on from there.
Its popularity was further promoted by high school history teacher Dave Strauss, who became known as Mr. Trivia. Strauss hosted a weekly radio trivia call-in show and was an indefatigable host of trivia nights.鈥�
Trivia nights are not unique to St. Louis. They鈥檝e spread to Springfield, Ill. and Springfield, Mo. as well as communities in Texas. But they haven鈥檛 quite taken off like they have in St. Louis, Donato said.
漏 2024 外网天堂 Trivia Night
- May 16, 2015, 7:00 p.m.
- IBEW Local One, 5850 Elizabeth Ave, St. Louis, MO 63110
- (314) 516-5968,
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St. Louis on the Air discusses issues and concerns facing the St. Louis area. The show is produced by and and hosted by veteran journalist . Follow us on Twitter: @STLonAir.
