By Emily Stewart
Where’s Waldo? He’s hiding throughout downtown St. Marys this summer.
Betty’s Bookshelf announced in a social media post June 17 that the bookstore will be participating in the Where’s Waldo Shop Local Scavenger Hunt from July 1-31. The scavenger hunt has been running since 2012, where more than 600 kids and adults have found Waldo in local bookstores and other businesses across North America. Penguin Random House, the distributor of the Where’s Waldo? books and a sales representative reached out to Jan Scott, owner of Betty’s Bookshelf, to see if the store would like to participate this year.
“I think it's a great thing for the town to be recognized as being worthy of doing something like this,” Scott said. “I also think it's great for the kids who live in town to have something fun that's free that they can do throughout the summer."
Up to 25 downtown St. Marys businesses will be participating in the Where’s Waldo Shop Local Scavenger Hunt. The shops will have a seven-inch cardboard cutout hiding in their buildings. Participants can grab a passport from Betty’s Bookshelf at 6 Water St. S, Unit 2, and collect stamps or signatures as they find Waldo in the downtown businesses.
Anyone who brings in a passport to Betty’s Bookshelf with 10 signatures can receive a bookmark offering 10 per cent off all children’s books in the store. A ballot with 20 signatures will be entered in a draw for a Where’s Waldo? prize pack and a $50 Betty’s Bookshelf gift card.
The bookstore will have a Where’s Waldo? party on July 31 with refreshments and Waldo-themed games starting at 4 p.m. to close off the contest and to draw the winning ballot in store. If the winner isn’t present, Scott will contact them so they can pick up their prize at another time.
Anyone of any age, St. Marys resident or not, is welcome to join the contest.
"It could be visitors that are here for the day,” Scott said. “It could be out-of-towners who find out about it and are looking for something to do. It could be local kids who come downtown, maybe they try to find four or five Waldos in the course of a week. They could do a few each week for the month of July and then they could come to our party at the end of July, have some treats and snacks, and enter to win the prize."
For more information, call 226-301-4391, email info@bettysbookshelf.com or visit facebook.com/bettysbookshelfstmarys.