LIHUE — When the caller on the other end of the line said he was a grand prize winner for the Best of Kauai drawing, Gary Siracusa had his doubts. “Yeah, sure, right, OK,” he thought. “Who put who up
LIHUE — When the caller on the other end of the line said he was a grand prize winner for the Best of Kauai drawing, Gary Siracusa had his doubts.
“Yeah, sure, right, OK,” he thought. “Who put who up to this and to call me on this kind of thing?”
“No, this is for real,” the caller said, “and we’ll be sending the package over.”
Friday, Gary Siracusa became a believer.
The Wailua Homesteads man picked up his prize Friday at The Garden Island office.
It includes airfare for two to Las Vegas, hotel accommodations, complimentary meals, transportation to and from the airport and $500 spending money, courtesy of The Garden Island and Oahu Publications, Inc.
Not bad for filling out a Best of Kauai ballot a few months back while he was having his vehicle serviced at Tire Warehouse owned by Sharron Weber.
Siracusa said he and Weber are longtime friends and both are Rotarians. While he was waiting for work to be completed on his car, Weber showed him a ballot and said, “Do you have time to fill this out?”
He did, and turned in the ballot there, too.
“I filled the whole thing out and there you go. The rest is history,” he said, smiling.
It was a big surprise to win.
“I’m not lucky at this kind of thing,” he said.
Siracusa is a director of construction with Hokuala, former Kauai Lagoons Golf Club. After he learned of his prize winnings in a call to his work, he called his wife, Lucy, to tell her the good news.
“Remember that contest, Best of Kauai?”
She did.
“My wife knew more about it than I did,” he said.
Gary Siracusa didn’t even recall there was a chance to win a trip when he completed the ballot. His was selected from several thousand entries in a drawing at TGI’s office.
“Oh yeah, there was a getaway,” his wife said. “There was a trip.”
The Siracusas plan to take that trip to Vegas this spring.
Gary said he fills out the Best of Kauai ballots every year to recognize the outstanding businesses and services on the island.
The 56-page publication, “Best of Kauai 2015,” was published by TGI. It is available at TGI’s office and online at thegardenisland.com
Tire Warehouse, by the way, took first place in Best of the Best in the Tire Store category and the Auto Repair category.
“It’s all about service, no matter what business we’re in,” Siracusa said. “I always like to recognize all those who are providing excellent service.”
