Speaking of meat raffles, here's a shot from one of Downtown Eau Claire, Inc.'s meat raffle events.

A meat raffle is like any raffle: buy a ticket and wait for your number to get called. As a Catholic, I’ve been playing this sort of game since I could hold my own paddle, usually a paint stick with markered-on numbers. At each church picnic, I won more cakes or pop bottles than my family could carry.

Another former Holy Ghost kid (now a retiree like me), Joy Lancour helped put on a meat raffle in January at The Ritz in Chippewa Falls. She and her fellow Eagles Club 2213 members raised $2,420 for a local child via Make-a-Wish Wisconsin.

That Saturday afternoon, my winning numbers were called so many times that other bar patrons shot some friendly shade in my direction. As Bob Dylan sang, “I can’t help it if I’m lucky.”

Husband Bruce and I brought home a pound of cheese curds, a few bottles of booze, and a gift basket filled with lotions and lottery tickets—perfect for a vegetarian at a meat raffle. Ironically, no one at our table won meat. Our friends chose fancy chocolates and a bottle of good scotch as their prizes.  Two future Eagles Club-sponsored raffles in March and April will benefit children and a petfood pantry.

YOU MIGHT SAY IT'S PART OF "WORKING CLASS CULTURE" OR YOU COULD JUST ADMIT HOW FUN IT IS TO WIN A SLAB OF MEAT IN A BAR.

Years ago, when Bruce first read “Meat Raffle tonight” on a Highway OO tavern marquee near our Lake Hallie house, he thought it was a cool band name. We still laugh about that. This east coast boy had no idea that meat raffles are a longstanding Wisconsin tradition, from small town VFW halls to big city hipster bars, enjoyed by 90-year-olds to 20-somethings, and, in family taverns, even kids. Turns out WWII era meat rationing in Britain prompted the first “meat raffles.” People pooled their meager protein supply and some lucky chap won enough for a feast. This concept soon caught on in the United States. You might say it’s part of “working class culture” or you could just admit how fun it is to win a slab of meat in a bar.

Each time you buy a drink at Heartbreakers on Tuesdays after 5:00 pm, you get a meat raffle ticket. Where else do the odds of winning increase the more you drink? The raffle begins at 6:00 pm sharp. The first time Bruce and I played, years ago, I won in the second round. I whooped my way from our table to the bartender to verify my ticket and then whooped some more to the spread of frozen meat, as if my name had just been called on “The Price is Right.” I poked through the prizes: a 2-pack of bologna rings or a whole chicken, pork tenderloin or a rack of ribs.

I settled on a pound of shrimp. I’d never won crustaceans before, so of course I held the frozen bag over my head like a trophy and whooped my way back to our table. Winning never tasted so good.

Long ago, a couple of friends in the Madison area created “Wisconsin Meat Raffle,” a Facebook page to share locations with other “meatheads.” Like many great ideas hatched in a bar, this one doesn’t seem to have much follow through: the page hasn’t been updated in seven years. Another on Facebook, “Meat Raffles of Wisconsin,” is active but only focuses on the Oshkosh area.

Many local bars besides Heartbreakers hold weekly or monthly meat raffles, including 1st and Goal, Bresina’s, Horizon’s, On the Rocks, The Sandbar, Schemboda’s Shady Pine, Schuetzy’s, Slim’s, Snout Saloon, Southtowne Pub, among others. For an up-to-date list, simply do what any smart meathead would do: Google it.