Chandler Meyer, 24, of Marblehead had only 90 seconds to make hay after winning the Marblehead Lions Club’s “Grocery Shopping Spree” held at Bassett’s Market last Thursday. The young man’s well-planned “spree” netted $391 in groceries. (Photo by D’Arcy Patrick Egan)

BY D’ARCY PATRICK EGAN

While a lot of fans of a Lake Erie yellow perch dinner at the Marblehead Lions Club’s 31st annual Perch Festival on Aug. 26 at James Park were disappointed when inclement weather cancelled this year’s Perch Festival, Chandler Meyer wasn’t one of them.

Meyer is a fan of a tasty perch sandwich or dinner, but fortunately while the popular Perch Festival was cancelled, the winning tickets in the Lions Club annual raffles were drawn.

One of Meyer’s five $1 tickets won the “Grocery Shopping Spree” at Bassett’s Market, held last Thursday. Meyer, 24, who works in maintenance and the kitchen at Camp Runinmuck on Marblehead all summer, had created a shopping spree game plan.

“I scouted things out pretty well, and knew what I wanted to focus on,” said Meyer. “It’s a long winter, and I wanted to fill my freezer.”

He certainly did, even though he was limited to just 90 seconds. While on his run up and down the aisles of Bassett’s Market under the watchful eyes of the store’s Chief Operating Officer Tom Mumford and Store Manager Jeff Gephart, Meyer following the shopping spree rules and hit the checkout area with a full cart.

Meyer had a long list of Angus beef to be checked out, as well as baby back ribs, laundry detergent, lamb chops and pork tenderloin.

His total of free groceries was $391.04.

“Chandler had a very good game plan,” said Harry Blackmon of the Marblehead Lions Club, with a laugh. So did the Lions Club, which sold about 8,000 tickets to help support its charities and community projects.