INNISFAIL – She is just 17-years-old and aspires to get many Innisfailians back outside to rediscover their smiles and be happy.
To achieve this goal, Athena Pare has created, with the full blessing from the Town of Innisfail, The Search for Hope Scavenger Hunt, which began June 7 and ends after Father’s Day on June 22. For Pare, who is graduating this year from Red Deer’s École Secondaire Notre Dame High School, the scavenger hunt is her creation for a positive citizenship class assignment.
However, she has also opted to do it differently.
“I didn’t want to go to the anti-racism protest, not that I don’t like them,” said Pare, a lifelong Innisfailian who is well aware of the current turmoil south of the border. “It is because I find that support is always closer at home, and you can always help and prove by actually being around these people and by caring.”
With that in mind, Pare’s project is not your typical scavenger hunt, even with COVID-19 and the accompanying social distancing rules in mind. Citizens will not find a pot of gold at the end. But they just might find something special though, a surprise that will be unique to each person.
Drawing inspiration from a famed quote from American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, Pare explained her scavenger hunt is designed as a special journey, not necessarily spiritual but one that is more sentimental.
“It is the journey that matters, not the destination,” said Pare with a close reference to Emerson’s famed words. “It’s kind of like that in the sense that this is more like a sentimental thing.
“You are wandering through town and looking. You are actually taking the day for yourself to try to get to the end. When you find the message, you are given a kind of gratification of like, ‘good job, you did awesome.’”
She also recognizes the pandemic has kept most people inside far longer than normal. Her hope is that people will seize her scavenger hunt as a way to get back outside and find their smiles again.
“It’s trying to help lift the spirits of the whole town, as well as getting people outside,” said Pare. “In the end, I am trying to help everyone understand that staying inside is OK. But you also have to step outside your comfort (zone) sometimes — outside your own box — to be able to be happy.”
Pare’s scavenger hunt involves a search for eight carefully placed large yellow stars scattered around town. They are followed in order. There is a simple message on each of them. The first one is at the town hall and features a one-word message: “HERE”.
“There will be hints to help you from one star to the next,” said Pare. “These stars are not in locations that people don’t walk by. They are in locations that people have probably walked past one or twice outside.
“It is very likely they are going to find other stars before they actually get to town hall,” she added. “It is very easy.”
After all eight stars and messages are found, participants will be rewarded, Pare said. She even believes they will be surprised.
“Yes, I think that would be pretty good.”
