TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), the nonprofit weight-loss support organization, filled the Ocean Shores Convention Center May 5-6 for their Washington State Recognition Days event. With a theme of the “TOPS Beach Party,” nearly 800 registrants were on hand. The addition of family members and friends means the event brought well over 1,000 visitors.

Carlene Wellington, a TOPS Coordinator from Puyallup, said the group came here in 2012, 2015, and this year, and will almost certainly return in 2019. “We ask (our members) where they want to go, and every time, they want to keep coming here. I love the beach. It’s my favorite place in the whole world.”

Activities include graduation ceremonies for members who have achieved their weight loss goals and for members who have successfully kept weight off. The group also crowns a Queen and a King who, at the end of the year, have officially recorded the largest weight loss from their starting weight, regardless of the time taken to reach their goal. Cheri Jackson of Enumclaw, who lost 113.25 pounds, and Stephen Tate Jr. of Port Orchard, who dropped 39 pounds, earned the titles.

More information is available online at www.tops.org.

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A singing group from TOPS chapter 1030, Mill Creek, performed on Saturday. .