King of clubs drawn, Chase the Ace in Goulds moves to the final round

The elusive ace of spades remains tucked away in a deck of just eight cards in Goulds tonight.

After fighting her way through the massive crowd of people outside St. Kevin's Parish, Julie Labour-Mitchell drew the king of clubs.

She missed out on the night's jackpot, a whopping $1,949,117, but the loss is bittersweet — she still took home a $262,294 consolation prize.

When asked if she could believe her luck, she responded, "Not really. No. No."

Labour-Mitchell is a mother of one. Her child works in British Columbia.

She says the prize money might be a good reason to bring them home.

Big wins for the 50/50

Judy Moss and Bryan Cooper won the 50/50 draw, pocketing a cheque for $348,095.

"It's amazing," she said. "We've been chasing for a long time, ever since the plastic was on the corn."

In Goulds, much of the surrounding land is farmland, and farmers cover their crops with plastic in the spring.

"We've seen the corn come up," she said.

Moss says she'll use the money to "pay off debts, like everyone else."

She says her daughter just got married last week and she has a claim in the prize, too.

Prepare for the Mega Draw

Chase the Ace organizers have confirmed that next week will be the final week for the Chase the Ace lottery, concluding 45 weeks of a phenomenon that has completely engulfed the St. John's neighbourhood. Organizers say they need to wrap it up in time for school.

• Province approves final Goulds Chase the Ace draw for Aug. 30
• Chase the Ace fever has taken over Goulds, but locals say they want their town back

Next week's final draw will be a so-called mega draw.

The 50/50 will proceed as usual, but the ace-chasing draws will be different. Tickets will be drawn for people to go to the front table in the parish hall and flip a card until someone flips over the ace of spades.

If the first person called doesn't turn the ace, they'll get the full consolation prize. If the next person doesn't reveal the ace, they'll get a consolation prize of $25,000, as will anyone else chosen to come up who doesn't choose the ace.

Biggest crowds yet?

If the crowds from Wednesday's draw are any indication, the lineups for tickets for the mega draw will form early and wind well down and around the block.

In fact, the crowds were so big Wednesday, not everyone got a ticket.

When Carol O'Brien, one of the lottery's organizers, sang out "All sales must cease now!" at 8:00 p.m., there was still a long line of people waiting to buy theirs.

Rockin' house parties

Some Goulds residents choose to avoid the lines — and the game — altogether.

Right across from the parish hall, 81-year-old Peg Frizzell throws a party and potluck for friends, family and anyone else who cares to stop by on Chase the Ace nights.

She puts out a big spread on the deck and cranks up the music. People even park on her lawn.

"I'm tellin' ya, it's like the way Christmas visiting was years ago," said Catherine O'Driscoll, who considers Frizzell her second mother.

"Wicked!"