Eight weeks of clues and adventure have wrapped up with the inaugural Fernie Rotary Summer Scramble coming to an end.
11 teams took part in the eight-week scavenger hunt, with one team – “Mud, Sweat and Beers” getting every clue across two divisions correct – a total of 80 overall.
“It was a lot of fun, and after a couple of weeks the teams were starting to run into each other coming and going from various clues, so they set up a lot of camaraderie,” said Fernie Rotary Treasurer Aysha Haines.
“It’s been a tonne of fun watching these groups really start to gel together.”
Each week, Fernie Rotary released five clues in two divisions – one for clues in town (the ramble division), and another for clues out of town on the trails (the scramble division) – and it was up to the teams to find each of them and take selfies at the correct location to enter into the draw for the grand prize. Each correct guess was another entry.
The grand prize was $500 worth of gift certificates to local businesses of the winners’ choice, with a grand prize for each division, and snap prizes each week for the first group to get clues correct.
“One of our teams that won the scramble grand prize draw chose to get three $30 certificates to give to some of their competitor teams that they enjoyed playing the game with all summer,” said Haines.
“They really all bonded together as a group.”
That said, Haines added that Fernie Rotary was back at the drawing board for fundraising ideas for the coming winter given it was impossible to hold many popular events in 2020.
While the scavenger hunt didn’t raise any money, Haines said “it was enough of a success that we’ll do it again next year,” with a few tweaks of course.
For now, Fernie Rotary will focus on helping other community groups raise funds, as the Rotary is able to continue offering its high school scholarships for the next year or so even while cut off from its most popular fundraising events.
“One of the things that Fernie Rotary is good at is rolling with it, and right now we’re rolling with it.”
READ MORE: Rotary Club launches Fernie wide scavenger hunt
Is there more to this story?
scott.tibballs@thefreepress.caLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter