West Side Nut Club Announces 2022 Half Pot Winner

10 days after the West Side Nut Club announced the winning ticket number for the 2022 Fall Festival Half Pot, the club held a press conference announcing a winner had come forward to claim their share of the massive jackpot during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon at their office on the corner of Franklin and 11th Streets.

Speaking on behalf of the Club, this year's Publicity Chairman, Brian Woods, began the press conference and said the winning ticket holder had come forward but elected to remain anonymous which is allowed under Indiana law.

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Lisa Frank with Harding & Schymanski, the accounting firm that oversees each year’s half pot, was also present at Wednesday's press conference to speak on their behalf. While she wasn't at liberty to reveal all the details, she did say the winner was a pair of brothers from Evansville who have been attending the Fall Festival for 45 years. She went on to say they bought the winning ticket on Wednesday of Festival week during a trip to get funnel cakes. Now they can afford all the funnel cakes they want.

In just its fourth year, the half pot climbed to an incredible $1,639,870. That's $124,610 more than was raised last year, and nearly $425,000 more than in 2019, the year the drawing debuted. This year's winning ticket pocketed the winner $819,935 (before taxes). Although, it sounds like the two brothers will be splitting that half in half which still leaves them with a nice payday.

What the West Side Nut Club Does with Their Half of the Jackpot

As they've done each of the previous years since launching the half-pot drawing, the Club will combine their half of the jackpot with the other funds raised through booth rental space at the Fall Festival and donate it to local schools, non-profits, and other organizations. The decision on which organizations get money and how much they receive is made by the club as a whole. Organizations first request funding through an online form on the Club's website where they provide details on what their organization is, what it does, how much money they would like to receive, and how that money, if granted by the Club, will be used.