For as much as Judy Bailey embraced and celebrated life’s good things — her family, her many friends, her love of singing, dancing, reading and watching movies, and being a genuine source of kindness and positivity to all she came in contact with — she most certainly did not seek out the spotlight.
It’s ironic, then, that the upcoming 5th annual Judy Games, which will celebrate Judy’s lasting legacy, will again draw hundreds of supporters to the Bailey family home on Aricia Lane in Beverly next Saturday, August 29.
“I think Judy’s up there in Heaven and looking down saying, ‘This is good stuff you’re doing’,” said her husband, Dan Bailey, who along with his children Mary Rose, Patrick and Brenna have hosted the game in her memory since her untimely passing in January 2022 at age 61.
“I think she’d be OK with what we’ve done and the goodness that’s come out of this.”
This year’s Judy Games, once again featuring three events (cornhole, Kan Jam and Ladder Golf) that two-person teams compete in, will start at 9:45 a.m. The Baileys get a permit so that Aricia Lane is shut down for the first half of the day, allowing the many participants to take part in the festivities in the Centerville section of the Garden City.
Monies raised from the event will go not only towards five separate $5,000 Judy Bailey Scholarships, given to graduating Beverly High seniors heading off to college, but also to the Beverly Children’s Learning Center for its enrichment programs, as well as the Beverly Education Foundation to help teachers with costs for supplies in their classrooms and such.
“Last year was the biggest one we’ve had, and it’s just unbelievable to me that it keeps growing and expanding,” said Dan Bailey. “Fundraisers in someone’s memory tend to be big the first year, then fall off over time. But this just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
Drawing folks from not only all over Beverly and surrounding North Shore towns, it also brings in family members and close friends from places such as Minnesota (where Judy and Dan are originally from), Maryland and Arizona.
Mary (Bailey) O’Leary and her husband, Chris, will come from San Ramon, Calif. with their two kids, Corinne (who’ll turn 6 on the day of this year’s Judy Games) and her 4-year-old sister, Caitlin. Patrick Bailey and his wife Megan live locally and will be helping all week to set up, while Brenna (Bailey) Keilty and her husband Casey, a pilot for the Navy, will be coming up from Virginia with their 16-month-old son, Finn Patrick.
“People are competing and taking part, but there are a lot who aren’t playing but are socializing and simply there to support. It’s really touching, quite frankly,” said Dan. “It’s all about fun and certainly helps to keep Judy’s memory alive.”
The first round of Games play is a qualifying round, where each two-person team plays each of the three games and racks up as many points as they can. Speed and dexterity are the names of the game to advance to the next round of 32, which is then broken down into a traditional March Madness style bracket (1 vs. 32, 2 vs. 31, etc.).
Once the competition is down to the final two teams, it’s essentially a race: they don’t face off against one another so much as each player has to score a certain amount of points to move on to the next game, rotating to cornhole to Kan Jam to Ladder Golf (the most difficult of the three). When one of the teams has both players hit all the runs in Ladder Golf, they are declared the champions.
Last year’s winners were the appropriately named ‘Fotter n Dotter’ team of Leo Otterbein and his daughter Abbey, a former Beverly High athletic star and The Salem News’ Student-Athlete of the Year nominee from BHS in 2018.
There’s also a ‘Best Costume’ award given out, which gains the winner extra points in the first (qualifying) round, as well as a 50/50 raffle.
“What I love watching about the competition is the emotions flying,” said Dan Bailey. “You’re effectively going up against the clock, racing to get through it all while working with your partner to get them the beanbag or frisbee back. It’s great.”
There will be an expanded ‘Kiddo’s Event’ for young children to take part in the same three events that the adults play, and the Beverly Fire Department comes by with a truck for them to explore and learn what firefighters do. Dennis Silvio and the folks from Iron Tree bring a bucket truck a few days before the event and set up a large sign for Saturday’s revelry, too.
As always there will be post-competition burgers, hot dogs, pizza, plenty of other food and beverages. Charlie Bougas of Peabody and his Bougas Catering Concepts donate the burgers and dogs; Mike’s Pizza in Beverly donates party-sized pizzas for the day.
“People can hang out after The Games end (around 1 p.m.) … and usually do,” Dan Bailey laughed.
Cost of The Judy Games is a donation of $150 per 2-person team ($75 per player, which is 501c3 tax deductible). For more information or to sign up for the event, visit https://www.thejudygames.com/
Contact Phil Stacey
@PhilStacey_SN