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She huffed, puffed, but was a bubble shy
A Wesley Chapel girl garners a $5,000 savings bond as a Dubble Bubble national contest runnerup.
By JAMES THORNER
Published July 29, 2005
The bubble burst Thursday for Danielle Warmke, the Wesley Chapel girl who competed in a bubble gum blowing contest in New York City, but a $5,000 consolation prize is still a lot of money to chew on.
In Dubble Bubble's sixth annual national bubble blowing contest, aired live on Good Morning America, Danielle had an early edge but lost to a 12-year-old boy from Arkansas.
"They lined up and had two minutes to blow as many bubbles as they could," said Danielle's father, Daniel Warmke. "They all kind of looked jittery at first, but when they started blowing bubbles, they settled down."
Danielle is an incoming fifth-grader at Seven Oaks Elementary (last year she attended Wesley Chapel Elementary). The 10-year-old became one of five bubble blowing finalists after competing June 11 at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in New Tampa.
Danielle and her mother, Terry, return today from a two-day, all-expenses-paid trip to New York.
Not only did the pair stay at one of the city's ritziest hotels, the Waldorf Astoria, but runnersup earned a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond and a limousine tour of the Big Apple.
The bubble contest was featured on Good Morning America at about 8:45 a.m. The winner's bubble was about 121/2 inches. First prize was a $10,000 bond.
Danielle had blown 13-inch bubbles practicing at home. So you could say she was a huff and a puff shy of victory.
[Last modified July 29, 2005, 00:51:17]
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