Richland duo takes Slippery Gulch egg toss, $500 bonus

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Jun 21, 20180

Kyle and Mallory Kraemer won the 26th year of the Tekoa Slippery Gulch Days egg toss Saturday, June 16, claiming a $500 bonus as the first winners with a female team member.

The Richland couple, who removed their wedding rings for the contest – which began with two-person teams lined up and down Crosby Street – outlasted Gabe Smith and B.J. Sperber, previous winners who bowed out with a cracked egg.

The Kraemers’ win was their first, receiving $50 each from Banner Bank and the $500 bonus from longtime announcer Chris Smith, who has offered the added prize for the past five years.

“We were in the Sweet 16 two years ago,” said Kyle, who met Mallory (Puckett), a 2005 Tekoa High graduate, at WSU.

After the Kraemers won, and stepped up onto the flatbed announcers’ stand, Smith handed them $290 in cash, much of it in small bills.

“You caught me short,” he said, promising a $210 personal check to follow.

As for Gabe Smith, a four-time winner, and Sperber, their decision at the end – with two teams remaining – was second-guessed.

“Everybody’s telling me I should’ve thrown it, regardless,” said Smith, a Tekoa farmer and member of the class of 2000. “But I knew it would break, it had a spiderweb crack at the top.”

In 2015, the eggs of all three finalists broke on the same throw. Second eggs were granted in order to decide the winner.

Next year is coming.