Opening Ceremony of the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Making new friends is the BEST part of Bee Week!

The Memorial Day Barbecue this year was held at Nationals Park.

Nationals Park was the perfect place for the Memorial Day Barbecue!

Posing with George Washington was fun!

Round 1 commences tomorrow; it consists of a written spelling and vocabulary test.

There were many activities to keep the spellers and their families busy!

Dancing was a popular activity with the spellers.

It was exciting to able to see all the spellers’ pictures on the jumbotron at Nationals Park!

Today spellers and their families were treated to a Memorial Day barbecue at Nationals Park, home to the Washington Nationals baseball team and it was quite a thrilling experience! We enjoyed face painting, batting cages, crafts, and inflatables and got a chance to interact with many other families. The Nationals team mascots, “Screech,” “George,” and “Abe” were also there and many spellers did not miss the opportunity to take some “spellfies” with them. This was also a great opportunity to meet other spellers and collect more autographs in my Bee Keeper.

At the Opening Ceremony this evening, we were introduced to Scripps Spelling Bee staff, volunteers, and Bee officials including the pronouncer, Dr. Jacques Bailly, and the head judge, Mrs. Mary Brooks. Tomorrow is the first official day of competition; it begins in the morning with the preliminary written exam (Round 1). On Wednesday, Round 2 and Round 3 will take place on stage.

Good luck to all the spellers competing in the 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee!