Lacombe Regional Tourism has started up a new campaign aimed at bolstering awareness about the qualities of the City’s downtown, not to mention the greater community at large.
Hidden Hooks was launched on Aug. 17.
At last year’s Lacombe Culture & Harvest Festival, several artists created large, colourfully-painted fish hooks as striking works of art.
Currently, those five hooks have been hidden in local businesses around Lacombe, said Viridiana Blignaut, marketing coordinator with Lacombe Regional Tourism.
“They had been painting the hooks two days in a row, and they finished them on the second day. Everyone who was walking around the market was able to see the project being creative ‘live’.
“And those are the hooks that are hidden in downtown Lacombe now as a kind of scavenger hunt,” she said.
Blignaut said that there are various hints and riddles (all posted at lacombetourism.com) that seekers can use to help guide them in their searches. Folks can also pick up brochures around town with a QR code that has all the details as well.
Once a person finds a hook, they are encouraged to take a photo and post it to #DiscoverLacombe and tag ‘Lacombe Tourism’ on their social media accounts.
“The idea is to get visitors involved and to go to local businesses and to help build that community vibe. It will be a fun activity to do in either summer or winter because the hooks are hidden in places where they can be all year long,” she said.
“We want to see people get really engaged with this project,” she said, adding that with next month’s Culture & Harvest Festival, artists will be creating even more of these hooks for future ‘scavenger hunts’.
“They will be added to the project next year.
“The local businesses have been awesome to work with, and they are also keen to add some activities to give our visitors different and unique experiences,” she explained.
In general, the Hidden Hooks campaign is also about generating momentum for the Lacombe Culture & Harvest Festival which runs Sept. 23-24.
This year’s event promises to be bigger and better than ever, with more organizers and helping hands onboard, too, she said.
“Everybody that is helping to organize it is putting a lot of effort behind it,” she said, adding that she hopes to see more visitors from the surrounding area drop by and experience the event as well.
“We just want to see the community gather there and for them to also see more of what Lacombe represents as well.
“There will also be so many attractions that people will see which are different from last year.”
For more about the Hidden Hooks campaign or the Lacombe Culture & Harvest Festival, check out Lacombe Tourism online at www.lacombetourism.com or follow them on social media.
