Members of the Ellijay Downtown Development Authority (DDA) heard from a retired educator concerning her idea about a new community scavenger hunt for kids when meeting Tuesday, Dec. 13.
Nan Flickinger, a retired middle school administrator formerly of Alpharetta, said she’s designing a scavenger hunt that’s similar in setup to Mice on Main, a popular activity for children in downtown Greenville, S.C. She took the idea to the Gilmer Chamber, which is now helping the project take shape.
“Kids have always been my thing, trying to come up with activities for kids. Finally, I had enough of an idea (for this scavenger hunt),” Flickinger told DDA members Reece Sanford, Sandy Ott, Melinda Hadden, Keith Nunn, Sarah Burnette, Ellen Grant and Josh Moyers.
With Mice on Main, kids hunt for small mice figurines and clues hidden around downtown Greenville. The local scavenger hunt would be apple-themed with kids trying to find apple figures hidden around downtown Ellijay, Flickinger noted.
“(With Mice on Main), there’s no reward or prizes, other than the excitement of the kids finding the mice,” she added.
The targeted age group for the scavenger hunt is 4-10 years old, and it would be an ongoing thing that can be done year-round, Flickinger noted.
“The purpose of it is to make Ellijay better for kids. Not that it’s not a great place for kids (already), but to add another piece to it,” she added.
Flickinger said she’s also working to put together a children’s book to go along with the scavenger hunt, which could be a project that involves other groups from the local community.
“I’ve basically written a book and found a publisher willing to publish (it). The book is a learning tool for kids to understand how apples get to where they can eat (them). I would love for a high school student to be the illustrator, and I’ve reached out to the art teacher at the high school. She’s willing to help me find somebody to do that,” she added.
Ron Cheslock, Gilmer Chamber tourism director, said there aren’t many activities in downtown Ellijay just for kids, and this could be one.
“We presented it to DEBCA (Downtown Ellijay Business and Community Association), and they shared it with some of the retired teachers. They thought it was a wonderful idea. Schools can make a school trip out of it,” he added. “In the chamber’s role, this is a great opportunity to draw more tourism here as well. There’s a lot of opportunities, and I think we could certainly have a lot of community involvement, too.”
Reece Sanford, DDA chairman, said the group has recently been exploring ideas for different types of new community events, including a cultural walk.
“That was going to be very cost-intensive, but I think this accomplishes a lot of those same goals. It’s for kids, which is even better,” he added.
“I love that it’s educational, and I love that it puts a book in their hands instead of (a cellphone),” said Hadden.
The DDA members voted to give their support to the scavenger hunt project Flickinger said the next steps will include getting permission from the city to move forward.
Ott, who is the city council’s representative on the DDA board, said that probably wouldn’t be an issue for the city council and would probably just require the mayor’s approval.
Ott described the scavenger hunt to Mayor Al Hoyle and city councilmembers during a workshop that preceded a Dec. 19 council meeting, but no further action was taken.