In place of contest, World's Largest Trivia Contest goes retro for weekend

It's an annual April tradition in Stevens Point, the World's Largest Trivia Contest, hosted by 90 FM, the UW-Stevens Point student-run radio station. Normally, the city would be filled with teams this weekend, ready to phone in their answers. Now it's on hold until October due to COVID-19.

"Trivia is something that brings together a community regardless."

COVID-19 has touched all forms of competition, including the World's Largest Trivia Contest in Stevens Point, scheduled to start tonight.

Theresa Yonash, the public relations director for 90 FM said, "We got together, and we're like ‘we still want to do something,’” said Theresa Yonash. “But we need to do something that is achievable through social distancing."

There was no way for the 51st edition of the contest to go on as planned during these trying times. So Friday night, 90 FM decided to turn back the clock with retro trivia from the archives.

"It's more of an event where we reminisce,” Yonash said. “We're still reading the questions, we're still playing the songs, but nobody is calling in."

Instead of more than 50 straight hours of fresh trivia, from 6 A.M. to 10 P.M. on Saturday and Sunday, the student radio station hopes those who would normally play can enjoy reminiscing on better times.

"It is most definitely more to represent this sort of normalcy and this nostalgic purpose that you know this has happened in the past, it can happen again,” Yonash said. “We can just enjoy it and kind of overcome this hurdle together."

There may be no winners at the end of the weekend, but the objective is for the camaraderie to fill the void of the competition.

"It comes to a point where it's no longer just about the contest,” said Yonash. "It's about the people that you see that weekend, it's about the food that you eat, and the jokes that you tell and the memories that you relive. It's just one big party."

Now again, the actual contest for this year has not been canceled, it has been postponed to October. The theme for the 51st edition of the contest, will be "Raid on Trivia 51" an ode to Area 51.