Adventure PEC

Costumed crusaders compete in County scavenger hunt

The sight of four men dressed in black suits is likely not an unusual one in the Cherry Valley Cemetery. However, when they are wearing black fedoras and sunshades and sporting identical soul patches, the sight borders on the unique— particularly if one of the men is holding an attaché case chained to his wrist. And certainly passersby could be forgiven for goggling at five women wearing golden crowns and purple capes—and in cat face-paint—wandering among the gravestones. These were just two of 17 teams competing in the inaugural Adventure PEC scavenger hunt, another event spawned from the fertile mind of Krista Dalby. “I get these ideas in February for fun things people can do,” she says with a laugh. “It’s an offshoot of Creative Rural Minds, and it was just another way of getting people out and about, meeting each other and bringing them out to places in the County that maybe they’ve never visited before.”

Organizer Krista Dalby (centre) with the winning County Arts Team (L-R): Walter Thompson, Flo Thompson, Sue Barclay and Sam Serrano.

The teams were given a list of tasks to perform and places to visit, earning points as they accomplished them. Those tasks ranged from counting the number of wine barrels in the tasting room at Stanners Vineyard to taking a group selfie with the lighthouse mural at the Waupoos Pub. They could visit Kelly’s in Picton and the staff there would give the team a clue needed to complete their task. At Diggers bookstore on County Road 13, the teams had to look for the clue hidden among the trees. In all, there were 16 locations on this adventure and team members were encouraged to post their progress on social media. For many of the teams, it turned into a race to complete all of the tasks. Shannon Warr-Hunter was on the County Bounty Hunters team with Melanie Machado and Natasha Egorenkova. For Warr- Hunter, the highlight of the day was racing to get their selfie on the stone bridge at Karlo Estates Winery. “We ran because there was three teams right on our tail, so we literally ran through the vineyard and had someone take our picture on the bridge and then ran back to the car. It was great,” she says.

The goal of the scavenger hunt was to have fun and help build a sense of community. To that end, the winner of the event was awarded $500, plus whatever was collected at the after-party at Prince Eddy’s in Picton, to be donated to the charity of their choice. Two teams were tied for first place, so the winner was decided by a game of beanbag toss. The County Arts Team (CAT) won the toss, and donated their winnings to the Prince Edward County Arts Council. While everyone vied for top spot, in the end it wasn’t about winning, but rather about meeting people, having fun and visiting places in the County. Dominique Jones moved to the County in January and thought the event was a great way to learn about her new home as well as a way to bond with her co-workers. “I was really impressed with the way it was organized,” she says. “I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would recommend people try it out. We did all of the events and had a ton of fun.”

Dalby was overwhelmed by the level of participation and the enthusiasm of the teams in this inaugural event. There were a total of 70 participants, and every team completed all of the items on the scavenger hunt list. “I was surprised that they all did everything,” says Dalby. “I expected they would just choose certain places. And they completed it so quickly, too. The first team was back at Prince Eddy’s within three hours. Next time I’m going to have to make it harder.”