Businesses create treasure hunt to lure visitors to Stanwood and Camano Island area

Published 4:28 pm Tuesday, February 16, 2010

CAMANO ISLAND — By late morning, the only ball Marit Marceau had found was a green tennis ball.

No clue balls. No treasure. Just driftwood, rocks and the winter wind whipping across Saratoga Passage to the beach at Camano Island State Park.

Marceau, 62, of Tulalip, was at the park early Friday morning for the start of the Great Northwest Glass Quest in the Stanwood-Camano Island area.

Despite the chill, she was determined to keep looking.

“I thought I would find 10 of them here, but maybe not today,” Marceau said.

More than 68 business owners are hiding 250 plastic clue balls in public parks and in shops around town and on the island. When found, the clue ball can be traded for the treasure hunt prize: an art-glass snowball shaped like a Japanese fishing float.

The glass quest continues through Feb. 28, coinciding with the winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C., and the Port Susan Snow Goose and Birding Festival next weekend.

At the Stanwood Chamber of Commerce office, volunteer Bill Keller was busy Friday morning handing out treasure-hunt maps to people from throughout the state.

“We had about 30 people here in the first half-hour,” Keller said. “Questers need to know that not all the business owners are hiding the clue balls right away. We’re putting out a new one every other day.”

Dozens of the treasure hunters made a beeline Friday for Freedom Park at Terry’s Corner on Camano Island. They looked under trees, around some sculptures and in the blackberry bushes.

Among those looking was Carolyn Ehret of Camano Island.

“The glass balls are made by a wonderful artist,” Ehret said. “And the glass quest is a great way to get the communities together to have some fun.”

The glass quest snowballs are made by Stanwood glass artist Mark Ellinger and could become sought-after collectors pieces if the quest takes off and becomes an annual event, organizer Doris Platis said.

For years, Ellinger has made hand-blown glass floats for similar treasure hunts in Grayland; Lincoln City, Ore.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and Jekyll Island, Ga.

Jennifer Spence and John Smithies, a young couple from Everett, also spent time searching for clues at Freedom Park. A Stanwood native, Spence said she was excited to search for clue balls in some of the shops in town. Smithies looked hard in the park, but ended up shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m clueless,” he said.

To participate in the Great Northwest Glass Quest, pick up a Quest Booklet at the I-5 visitor information booth at the intersection of I-5 and Highway 532; the Stanwood Chamber of Commerce, 8725 271st St. NW; or the Camano Island Chamber of Commerce, 578 N. Camano Drive at Terry’s Corner. For more information, go to www.thegreatnwglassquest.com.

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427, gfiege@heraldnet.com.