Lucky local wins chamber raffle

An intuition of luck paid off in a big way for Tucumcari resident Mark Romero when he won a UTV worth $10,000 off a $25 raffle ticket from the Logan/Ute Lake Chamber of Commerce.

“I really can’t explain it,” Romero said. “I woke up that Saturday morning and just felt lucky.”

Romero said he was attending the Logan/Ute Lake Chamber of Commerce’s Fourth of July celebration on July 1 where he bought the ticket.

The tickets, of which only 1,500 were printed, are part of the annual fundraiser for the chamber, said Leslie Osborn, former chamber president.

Osborn said the sale of the tickets raises money to pay for the prize selected by the winner, expense of the free barbecue and bean feed and the entertainment for the annual street dance. She said the remaining money is used in general expenses, such as website maintenance, scholarship fund and additional chamber events/projects.

“I have always wanted one of the UTVs,” Romero said. “This works out great; I am an outdoorsman and hunter. I also drew a tag for an Elk hunt later this year.”