{"id":296959,"date":"2026-09-30T16:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T16:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/296959\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T16:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T16:22:08","slug":"adult-spelling-bees-gain-popularity-across-philadelphia-bars-and-venues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/296959\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Spelling Bees Gain Popularity Across Philadelphia Bars and Venues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you thought spelling bees were a product of your elementary school days, reserved only for memories, guess again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/957benfm.com\/tag\/Philadelphia\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Philadelphia<\/a>, adults are gathering in bars for spelling bees to confront childhood trauma, enjoy the world of language, and receive public acknowledgment for their efforts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.phillymag.com\/news\/2026\/09\/28\/adult-spelling-bees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">According to a Philadelphia\u00a0magazine report<\/a>, several local spelling bee events have emerged or expanded, including the Citywide spelling bee at the Pen and Pencil Club, an event at Harmonie Hall, South Philly bees, and a West Philadelphia food-themed bee at Pentridge Station.<\/p>\n<p>Bill Gravitz is one of the individuals who took advantage of a Pen and Pencil spelling bee, seeking to avenge his eighth-grade failure. \u201cAdult spelling bees were unheard of in 1977,\u201d he said. Gravitz redeemed himself on the word zymurgy (the science of fermentation).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a city like Philadelphia where there&#8217;s no shortage of debauchery, good, clean fun is in itself a welcome commodity,\u201d musician, writer, and speller Pierce Jackson explained to Philadelphia\u00a0magazine.<\/p>\n<p>Participants who have taken part in events like the Citywide spelling bee describe them as a mix of ritual, performance, and social bonding, accompanied by equal doses of nerves and pride. Spectators often cheer or heckle participants in classic Philadelphia fashion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt turns out everyone gets really mad at you when you tell them to spell onychorrhexis (a longitudinal ridging and splitting of the nails),\u201d said spelling bee organizer Anna Ladd.<\/p>\n<p>Ladd also believes the draw of spelling bees is as much about reliving nostalgia as it is about finding a social gathering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn adult years, you just don&#8217;t get grades anymore. And it&#8217;s nice to be told you&#8217;ve done a good job at something,\u201d she explained to Philadelphia\u00a0magazine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you thought spelling bees were a product of your elementary school days, reserved only for memories, guess&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-296959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}