For just the second time in the contest’s history, the winner of Petersburg’s Canned Salmon Classic will take home cash prizes for both first and second place.
Petersburg resident William Bergmann won first and second place prizes of $2,000 and $1,000 dollars for his guesses on this year’s canned salmon pack in Petersburg.
The actual number of cans packed was 12,516,654. That’s way up from last year’s total of over 4.8 million, one-pound cans.
Bergmann’s first place guess missed by just 6,160 cans off. His second place guess was only 13,840 cans away.
It’s the second time for a double winner in the annual guessing game. Bergmann’s daughter Tessa also won both first and second place back in 2011.
The annual guessing game is put on by the Petersburg Chamber of Commerce with help from the processing companies Icicle Seafoods and Ocean Beauty Seafoods and with donations from Alaska Marine Lines and other companies. In the past, winners have been announced during the Humpy 500 go cart race. However, that event was discontinued this year due to a lack of participation. 700 tickets were sold for the contest this year by the swim team and the local domestic violence advocacy group WAVE.
