Get ready for an Easter eggs-travaganza that will have you clucking with delight and hopping all over Ashcroft in a safe, social-distancing kind of way for a fun, family-friendly scavenger hunt with some great prizes.
The event is the brainchild of a group of people spearheaded by Ashcroft resident Joyce Buckland, who says she was kicking around the idea of some kind of Easter event and what that could look like in the midst of a pandemic.
“I was sitting here thinking about the kids and how this was affecting them, and wondering how we could take their minds off it even for a short time, do something people could get excited about.
“I phoned some people and asked ‘What do you think?’ They thought it was a good idea, so we discussed different ideas and how we could do something safe that didn’t involve too many people so things didn’t get crazy. The main focus was safety.”
The result was an Ashcroft-wide scavenger hunt involving different locations that have to be tracked down via clues. Buckland started phoning people and asking if they could do something, and ended up with 18 locations in North Ashcroft, downtown, and on the Mesa.
The participating residents and businesses will be putting up special decorations or displays, and all the clues — as well as the event’s rules — have been listed on entry forms. They can be picked up at any time from the white drop-box outside the front door of the Ashcroft Journal office on 4th Street, and from the information box under the Ashcroft map and sign in the parking lot outside the Visitor Information Centre on Railway Avenue.
Once you’ve picked up your form, you have from April 3 to 11 to complete the hunt by matching the clues to the locations and writing down the correct addresses. Completed forms can be dropped off anytime in a marked plastic bin outside 1427 Pine Street (in the Battel subdivision across from the Ashcroft pool).
The hunt can be done at your own pace, and participants can go out as family groups or on their own. If you go on foot, follow social distancing protocols. None of the participating locations are on dead end streets or cul de sacs, and none of the sites on the Mesa are past Sage Hills Church. All of the locations are clearly visible from the road, so there’s no need to exit your vehicle or go into yards.
“It’s as simple and safe as we could get it and still have fun,” says Buckland.
All entries must be received by noon on April 11, and the draw will take place at 1 p.m., with Buckland contacting the winners by phone. The grand prize is a family pool pass for the Ashcroft pool courtesy of the Village of Ashcroft. Other prizes include a Purdy’s Easter chocolate gift basket, two large baskets filled with all kinds of fun things (a Frisbee, bocce balls, chocolates), a fun water float, a huge 193cm dragon kite, and a soccer ball.
Buckland says that the event is for people of all ages, and she hopes it can be the first event of its kind rather than a one-off.
“Hopefully it goes well and we can pull it off under the circumstances we’re dealing with. If we can do this in a crisis, imagine what we could do if there wasn’t a crisis?
“I think we could make this huge. Everyone I’ve talked to is really excited. Everything happening this year is really simple and easy to find, and the clues are easy. Next year we could get a bit more challenging, maybe do something for older kids as well and make the clues harder. It could be a great thing we could carry on with every year.”
editorial@accjournal.ca
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