2. March 28, 1981
SPAMARAMA™ number four is held in the second Soap Creek Saloon location on North Lamar in what had formerly been a roadhouse called the Skyline Club. The most memorable features of this year’s party were a portable hot tub on a trailer in the parking lot and a “Miss SPAMARAMA™” beauty contest. Local daytime TV news anchors Joyce & Mel were some of the celebrity judges and took the bar party aspect of the event a little too seriously. Mel missed their next show entirely, and Joyce did the program alone, in shades. Thus began the infamous tradition of the “Judges’ Curse.” In later years, local radio talk-show host Bob Cole would suffer a stroke the day after judging SPAMARAMA™, and pert, red-headed TV newswoman Sandy Cannon missed a week of work after her stint as a celebrity judge.This article appears in March 31 • 2000.