Scavenger hunt rally planned in support of Kamloops wildlife park

Photo: Brendan Kergin

In an effort to help out the B.C. Wildlife Park, a local mother is organizing a scavenger hunt designed for the physical distancing age — with cars.

The Wildlife Park Car Rally is the creation of Jennifer Marshall, owner-operator of Streetside Apparel (which her 9-year-old son helps the design). Having grown up with the park in her life she now takes her kids to the park; with COVID-19 hitting the park's bottom line, she wanted to do something to make sure the much loved local attraction would make it through.

Inspired by an event at her kids' church, she came up with the scavenger hunt via car. She had been looking for something to put her energy towards after the Kamloops kids expo which she typically hosts was cancelled.

"It's not a race, your not going to get bonus points for going fast," she says. "We're encouraging you to get out and see your city."

The event will take place on July 25; on that day Marshall says registered teams will gather at the park just before noon and receive a package with instructions with clues. The clues will lead the team to locations where they take a photo. At the end of the event (at 4 p.m.) teams will email their pics in, points will be awarded and winners declared.

"There are three prize packages," she says. "Each package is going to be made up of donations from local small businesses."

Donations are still coming in she adds.

Teams can register for $10 and can be made up by as many people as fit in the car. Or people can ride solo if they so choose. Marshall says she's encouraging families to register together to better follow social distancing recommendations. All proceeds from the registration will go to the park.

"They've had some tough times this year," Marshall says. "I just want to make sure they make it, that they do ok, they've been a big part of my family growing up and it's now big part of my kids' life."

Registrations can be done via a form found on Streetside's website, the B.C. Wildlife Park website or the event's Facebook page.