Castlewood man wins ‘Chase the Ace’ and takes home $150,000

CASTLEWOOD, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - After one year, the Ace of Spades has finally been found in Castlewood.

The 51st drawing of the Castlewood Community Foundation’s ‘Chase the Ace’ fundraiser was held at Ship’s Inn Bar & Grill on Tuesday night.

Charlie Trenary was the lucky name drawn from the raffle, but he’s been playing since week one, and this wasn’t his first time winning the weekly sales.

”I got drawn early on. I don’t remember what week it was, but I got like 200-and-some dollars,” said Charlie.

The second time around, he won much more than that. Out of the two envelopes left, Charlie picked #35, which did indeed have the Ace of Spades in it. Charlie walked away Tuesday night with just under $150,000.

Castlewood Community Foundation member say they were happy a local won the grand prize.

”Everybody would like to win, but if you couldn’t be the winner, Charlie would be at the top of the list for who you would like to see to win. Charlie supported the fundraiser the whole time. They’ve been going through some hardships, health situations themselves this year. The community has rallied behind them.” said Castlewood Community Foundation President Lois Wiarda.

Charlie’s wife, Darlene, has undergone five surgeries for her hip in the last year and has lost her ability to walk. The couple plans to use their winnings to pay off those medical expenses.

”Well, we’ve got a lot of hospital bills to pay, so that will take a lot of it,” said Charlie.

The Castlewood Community Foundation will also walk away from the fundraiser with a good chunk of change to help fund their expansion projects.

”We need to figure our expenses yet, but we’re anticipating that we hopefully will net about $200,000,” said Wiarda.

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