{"id":168381,"date":"2023-07-28T03:44:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T08:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=168381"},"modified":"2023-07-28T20:18:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T01:18:01","slug":"kids-businesses-enjoying-the-rock-scavenger-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/07\/28\/kids-businesses-enjoying-the-rock-scavenger-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"New Rock Scavenger Hunt fun for all"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a local activity that has become very popular in a short amount of time and it\u2019s kept younger children active during much of July, while allowing businesses to get their names out there and treat some of the youngsters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rock Scavenger Hunt for Van Wert County was organized by Cassie Weck, who borrowed the idea from her hometown of Upper Sandusky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cormick McCoy, pictured with his mother Traci, is all smiles after finding a rock and getting his prize. Photo submitted<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought it would be such a great addition to the families and businesses in Van Wert County,\u201d Weck said. \u201cIt took roughly two weeks to get everything ready and get the rocks hid. Lots of calling, messaging and picking up rocks. There were quite a few businesses I didn\u2019t get a response from all of them, but overall everyone was so eager to join and make this a success for the kids in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting messages daily from businesses wanting to join still, and any business are more than welcome to still join,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scavenger hunt is geared for children 10 and under. Specially marked rocks have been hidden in four locations \u2013 Smiley Park, Franklin Park, Jubilee Park and Hiestand Woods Park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe original start date was July 12,\u201d Weck said. \u201cMy daughter and I spent the day hiding all the rocks at four parks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timely hints and updates have been posted on the Rock Scavenger Hunt for Van Wert County Facebook page. Once a child finds one of the rocks in the designated parks, he or she must take a picture and post it to the Rock Scavenger for Van Wert County Facebook page, then take the rock the sponsoring business to receive a small prize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

One of winners was Cormick McCoy, who found a Laudick\u2019s Jewelry rock that had been hidden at Hiestand Woods Park. His mother, Traci McCoy, said he spent many hours checking all of the places before finding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the most exciting part when he found it was finding out he could hide it for another kid to find,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s been exciting for children and businesses, there apparently have been some people who have tried to put a damper on the scavenger hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cassie Weck<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOriginally we hid about 80 rocks and some businesses did two or three,\u201d Weck explained. \u201cSince we first hid rocks, we have had lots more businesses join\u2026I\u2019d say we\u2019re close to 100. I think almost every business has been found once, but unfortunately some rocks came up missing. We aren\u2019t for sure what happened, but we have heard that some teens were taking them and throwing them in the woods. This is such a bummer for the kids and the businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Weck organized the scavenger hunt, she praised all of the businesses that have make it such a successful offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t have done it without all the businesses stepping up,\u201d she stated. \u201cMy husband owns a business, Black Swamp Lawncare, and I know how difficult it can be as a business owner to get your name out into the community. This is a great way to get your name out and give something back to the kids and families in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust today on Facebook someone said \u2018I get excited when I see a business that I have never heard of,\u201d she continued. \u201cThat comment right there made my heart so happy, and it\u2019s just one of the reason I wanted to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How long will the scavenger hunt continue? That remains to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe really don\u2019t have an end date yet\u2026we are thinking maybe before school starts or we\u2019ll just continue until the fall and hopefully start again next year,\u201d Weck said. \u201cAlmost all the businesses have been hiding their rock again so kids can keep finding them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To join in the fun, visit the Rock Scavenger Hunt for Van Wert County Facebook page. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor It\u2019s a local activity that has become very popular in a short amount of time and it\u2019s kept younger children active during much of July, while allowing businesses to get their names out there and treat some of the youngsters. The Rock Scavenger Hunt for Van Wert County was organized by Cassie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-168381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 05:21:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168381"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168440,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168381\/revisions\/168440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}