Washington — As 100,000 Harley-Davidsons roared through Washington, D.C., to celebrate the Memorial Day holiday, a smaller group of Canadians, notable for their lack of leather chaps, trickled into town for the 81st Scripps National Spelling Bee.

This year, 288 youth hope to be the last speller standing in the famed ballroom at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Most are from the United States — with a small showing from other places like Ghana, Guam and South Korea. Twenty-two are Canadian, including Thunder Bay’s own Logan Turner.

“I think that the Canadians have really embraced it,” said Jacques Bailly, the official pronouncer at both Scripps and CanSpell. “You wouldn’t even know that these kids wouldn’t have had (a spelling bee) a few years ago.”

This is the fourth year Canadians have participated in the event, and Saskatoon’s Anqi Dong has been there every time. Jonathan Schut of Cornwall, P.E.I., Cody Wang of Calgary and Curtis Bogetti of Kamloops, B.C., are also returning spellers.

The experience comes in handy, especially when dealing with all those Washington-specific spelling quandaries. Just ask Curtis, who has the lowdown on the lobbyists who protest the bee later in the week.

“Whenever you get a word wrong, they’re on the street with pamphlets saying that words should be spelled phonetically. Like, no “i” in friend,” he said.

But not very persuasive. After a third-place finish at CanSpell nationals, it seems Curtis is shirking the lessons of the legendary pamphlet.

Last year, he made it to the quarter-finals at Scripps. Anqi and Cody made it to the finals, where fellow Canadian Nate Gartke won the runner-up title. Evan O’Dorney, a 13-year-old from Danville, Calif., spelled “serrefine” for the win.

“The concept of getting into the finals was more of a fantasy,” Nate said of his big finish last year. “My actual goal was to get into the first round that was televised.”

During the next few days, Canada’s spelling elite, including national champion Emma Brownlie of Ottawa, will take a ridiculously difficult written test in the hopes of making it even farther than Nate. Their score on that test, combined with an oral test Thursday morning, will determine who gets a shot at the quarter-finals Thursday afternoon. The championship round is to be broadcast live on ABC on Friday night.

— Ottawa Citizen