Cannon treasure hunt solved
Valerie Clarke
Number eight was great.
The eighth clue for the Cannon Township Treasure Hunt did the trick for winner Joe Longo. The clue was in reference to a Jerry Lee Lewis song, Great Balls of Fire. Those song lyrics led Joe right straight to the most obvious place in Cannon Township for the prize - the cannon itself.
Joe Longo, a 22-year resident of Grattan Township, comes through township every day on his way to work and has been working diligently on solving this year's puzzle. He is now the winner of $1000 in gas cards from the Grist Mill and Topp Stop.
"I was pretty sure I had it solved when I picked up my clues that morning," Longo said, referring to his fourth set of treasure hunt clues which were released on Oct. 6.
"I got here (the cannon site) when it was still dark," Longo continued. "There was a car already parked in the lot when I pulled up and I thought I missed out. I didn't see anyone though, so I decided to look around anyway. A little bit of digging around the cannon and I turned up with the coin."
Dr. Carl Stites, member of the treasure hunt committee, was the recipient of the jovial winner's phone call that Tuesday morning. The treasure hunt lasted for three weeks this year.
"Every year we make it a little more of a challenge," Stites said.
"This year's hunt actually took me twice as long to come up with clues that would not give it away in the first week. I was even revising clues the day before they were released. It was stressful for me. I didn't want someone to just stumble upon the coin."
This year the clues were all based on Cannon Township history. The bar was set high and it just made it more interesting. "People actually had to study to figure out the clues," Dr. Stites said. "It forced them to learn their local history.
"There were many hundreds of people involved in this year's hunt," Stites said. "We had lots of families and people working in groups to solve the clues, which we really enjoyed seeing." |
