PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A free four-week, self-guided winter scavenger hunt returns to Fairmount Park. It starts Monday and runs through Feb. 25. The idea is to showcase what the park has to offer — even in the coldest months.
Amanda Daws Cohen, Fairmount Park Conservancy program manager, points, literally, at an old drinking fountain at the intersection of Sedgley Drive and Kelly Drive.
“Hundreds of people probably pass by this every day. I venture to say that very few ever notice it,” she said. “It’s really beautiful. It’s marble. It has a lion’s head where the water used to come out.”
The drinking fountain, created in the late 1800s, is an example of something that could be found on a weekly mission list for the WinTour Scavenger Hunt. This fountain, this year, is not on that list.
“We don’t want to give locations away!” said Daws Cohen. “But we do have another fountain that we will bring folks to.”
The idea of the hunt is to get people to explore the more than 2,000 acres of Fairmount Park. taking notice of all the art, landmarks, trees, plants, trails and animal habitats, in the coldest months.
“Not only do we want to get people out in the park in the depths of winter, we want to get them to open their eyes to things they see every day — whether it’s a statue, a fountain or even a tree or a plant. Everything has a story, and that’s what we’re trying to do through the scavenger hunt,” she said.
She paused to point out a plant called devil’s walking stick.
“If you are taking a hike in the woods, and you accidentally fall, you do not want to reach for this plant,” said Daws Cohen. “It has thick thorns running all the way up it.”
The prickly plant may or may not be on one of the scavenger hunt’s mission lists.
The scavenger hunt uses an app called GooseChase. People can participate as individuals or in teams of up to four people.
“It is a four-week scavenger hunt, and each week we are focused on an area of the park, and there’s 10 missions released each week,” she explained.
And there are prizes, too.
Registration is available through the Fairmount Parks Conservancy website, myphillypark.org.