A few years ago it was illegal.

Cow plop bingo returned to Kernel Days in Wells after event organizers learned it was legal with stipulations.

In cow plop bingo, a cow grazes of an area divided into boxes, and the object is to pick the square the cow does its business onto.

The Wells Chamber of Commerce board received a letter from the Minnesota Gambling Control Board after the event in 2006 stating such gambling was not allowed because participants could sway the animal toward a square.

“We just got a letter warning us that can’t be done because it’s not a game of chance, so to speak. They thought the potential for manipulation was there,” said Rick Herman, who was on the chamber board at the time.

“As I recall, they could impose penalties on us if we did it another year,” he added.

Herman said the chamber board was surprised to receive the letter, and he said several local churches held chicken plop bingo fundraisers — the same concept, only with a chicken in a pen. Those fundraisers ended, too, he said.

The GCB approved cow plop bingo, called cow-a-bunga bingo on www.gcb.state.mn.us, on Sept. 17, 2007, as an alternative means of determining a raffle winner.

Kernel Days organizers had a gambling permit, and ticket stubs containing participants name, address and phone number were sealed in an envelope, as stipulated by the GCB.

“We received a letter from the state of Minnesota that said it was legal as long as we followed certain rules,” said Deb Tolzmann, who is one of the people in charge of Kernel Days.

Children coming from a nearby petting zoo wanted to feed the two cows, but organizers stopped them so the cows weren’t swayed to one area.

A judge determines the location of the cow pie, and he does so without knowing who bought the ticket for each square.

“I’m just waiting for one of the cows to crap, and then I need to go out and determine if it’s on a line or call the square that it is,” said cow plop bingo judge John “Chops” Willette.

Pat Allis, the owner of the two cows, joked that Willette was a good choice. Willette said he was chosen for the job because he’s known in Wells as being full of it.

If the pie falls in two squares, the GCB stipulates the judge will determine which of the squares contains the most cow pie.

The cows graze in what the GCB calls the “drop area,” a fenced off area with 300 spray-painted boxes. Each square costs $5.

Marilyn Schultz won $250 for selecting the square one of the cows targeted about an hour into the competition. The eight squares surrounding the winning square received $35.

“They say it’s like $250 for like $5. You can’t make that anywhere else,” said Duane Giese, who attended the event but couldn’t buy a ticket because they sold out.

If the cows fail to perform by a certain time — usually a few hours — a box is randomly selected through a raffle. A number was drawn randomly the year the chamber received the letter stating the event was illegal, Tolzmann said.

Tolzmann said the chamber uses the money raised during the event to pay for Kernel Days expenses. The return of such a fundraiser was good for Kernel days, as Tolzmann said the weekend hasn’t received the same financial funding as in the past.

“If it was a matter of getting rich, we probably wouldn’t do it,” Tolzmann said. “We just need to break even and cover our costs. It’s more important this year because the donations aren’t there that have been before.”

“This is a good fundraiser. I guess the biggest fundraiser is bringing all these people to town,” Tolzmann added.

The event did bring people to town and Half Moon Park was filled with softball and volleyball teams playing in the tournaments and taking a break to grab lunch at one of the many food vendors in the park.

There was also inflatable games, bingo and entertainers performing much of the afternoon.

“This is the big thing here in Wells. This right here,” Giese said.