A 100-item list was released last week, and at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 3, the items were due at the Billy Goat Saloon for the Snowdown scavenger hunt.
The scavenger hunt has been a mainstay of Snowdown for more than 20 years, although long-time participants are a little fuzzy on the original year.
"I think this was the hardest year," for gathering all of the items on the list, said Jinny Craig of Durango, who has been participating for most of those years. She and teammates Juana Castellano, Jayme Hazelton and Patti McGuigan found everything but one item on the list this year - a fry guy from McDonald's. They did print out a picture of one in hopes it might score a sympathy point with the judges. They got their last item for the search on Friday morning at 8:30.
A few other offbeat items from this year's list: a leg lamp (think A Christmas Story), a Space Jam movie on VHS tape, a token from Taste of Durango, and a jar of a homemade pickled item.
Melisa Smith, turning her team's items in, agreed finding the fry guy was a challenge. Her team didn't find one. A pen with an undressing guy or gal was difficult, too, she added.
Craig's team succeeded in finding the novelty pen, but it took a lot of searching. A friend's grandfather had an antique one they borrowed for the event.
This year's judges were Shane Aragon, Jim Ourganian and Cindy Hemphill. The entry fee is $20, and the top four teams take home the money from the pot.
This year's winning team, "What's It Gonna Be?" found 99 items on the list, and also won last year's competition. Team members are Stacey Longfellow, Gena Boyd, Mary Pat Higgins and Anne Cook of Bayfield.
The competition came down to a tie-breaker: which team had the oldest $2 bill? The winning team had one from 1976, the Durango team's was from 1995.
The Bayfield group is out for a trifecta win next year, the team members vowed.
