Thanks to Great Mystery Participants and Supporters!

“concentric stones on a hill evoke more paganism than academics…”

We made it — the Great Mystery 2013 has concluded!  The Asset Managers walked away with the Super Sleuth Culminating Prize, a Bread for a Year certificate from Avenue Bread.  And the Madagascar Tenrec Terriers cleaned up the Family Edition Week Four and Culminating Prizes, winning pizzas at Pizza Pipeline, a Village Books gift certificate, and a Merch-Bot gift certificate.  And the Thing Finders claimed the Bike Prize, a gift certificate from Fairhaven Bikes, having visited every one of their sixteen clue locations by bicycle!

Our congratulations to all participants!  Of course, everyone that took part was a winner in our view:  If you had fun, learned a little about Bellingham, did some exploring, worked effectively with your team, or thought outside the box, you gained access to The Great Mystery!

In closing, let us again thank you for taking part, and thus supporting Explorations Academy, a dynamic school that challenges young people to become effective global citizens.  And please don’t forget to visit, and thank, our sponsor businesses.  Thanks!

The Mystery Culminates!

Greetings, Sleuths!  We are closing in on the grand finale of The Great Mystery 2013!  Thanks for being part of this wild ride!

This Friday at 5pm we hope you will join us for the little reception we’ve planned this Friday evening, May 17th, at 5pm.  A few notes:

• The (coded, of course!) location of this event is included in your final mailing — a postcard — that should be in your mailbox today or at the latest tomorrow.  This postcard also provides the Long Awaited Information about how to decipher your weekly clues, so you can come Friday ready to win the Culminating Mystery Prize!  You must be present to win!

• All Great Mystery teams are welcome to join us at the reception, even if you haven’t managed to collect all four of your weekly answers and even if you haven’t deciphered the encrypted information on them.  We’d still like you to come, snack, and enjoy.  There may be some unexpected prizes!

• Did we mention that you should not only patronize, but thank, the businesses that make The Great Mystery, and Explorations Academy, possible?  Please help us celebrate Mallard Ice Cream, The Community Food Co-op, Village Books, McKay’s Taphouse, Bellingham Cold Storage, Brandywine Kitchens, D’Angelo International, Louis Auto Glass, Angler Automotive, Western Solar, Merch-Bot, Mahy Counseling, Fairhaven Bike, Good to Go, Avenue Bread, and all our other wonderful suporters!

• If possible, please bring any still photos or video clips you’ve collected of your Great Mystery shenanigans.  We’d love to use them to help build up this event for next year.

• We will also award the Bike Prize at the reception.  Bring images of your bike next to as many clues as possible.  If multiple teams visited ALL their clue locations by bike, we’ll draw for the winner.  And, since this Friday is Bike to Work and School and Great Mystery Day, come to the event via silent and nonpolluting transport if at all possible!

• Lest we overlook Congratulations that are In Order, kudos to the Ten Mad Terriers for coming in with the correct Week Three Family Edition answer, thus winning a Mallard Ice Cream gift certificate.  Keep at it, Family Edition teams — Week Four is yet to be won!

SEE YOU FRIDAY AT 5pm!

Week Four Super Sleuths — A Race to the Finish!

Vicki of The Thing Finders awards Keith of The Asset Managers a portion of their Week Four Prize!

An unusually intense finish to Week Four took place this morning when no fewer than four teams — The Thing Finders, The Asset Managers, the Spring Block Sleuths, and Team Kribrimimatt all arrived in our office within fifteen minutes of each other.  Each team being successful and victorious in their own light, we (alas) had to award the prize to the first team, and The Thing Finders claimed it.  However, since The Thing Finders has but three team members, and the Week Four Prize was four $10 gift certificates at Good-To-Go Meat Pies, they were gracious enough to pass along one of those gift certificates to the Asset Managers.

If we had an extra prize to give for generosity, it would go to The Thing Finders!  More importantly, the spirit of The Great Mystery is clearly intact, as the thrill of pursuit exceeds, most appropriately, the material reward that at times lies at the end of the pursuit.  Kudos to all contestants for their keen minds, effortless collaboration, and stalwart perseverance.

IMPORTANT:  We will be gathering at 5pm this Friday evening, May 17th at a location in town yet to be announced.  At this session, the Bike Prize and Culminating Mystery prizes will be awarded, and teams must be present to win!  Stay tuned for a postcard in the mail this week with final location details and the key to decipher the encrypted information you’ve been collecting this past month!

Family Edition Week Two Prize Claimed!

Multitudinous kudos to the Madagascar Tenrec Terriers for coming in on top of the Family Edition Week Two prize!  This stalwart family team pursued the Mysterious throughout Bellingham and brought their correct answer into our office this afternoon.  Their reward for their perseverance, teamwork, creative thinking and reasoning skills?  A great time!

And, of course, a tangible prize too:  Some gift certificates at Merch-Bot and a flat of wonderful garden starts from the Explorations Academy greenhouse.  Cheers to the Terriers for their success — and happy sleuthing to all!

East-West Alliance takes Week Three Prize!

The feverish competitive intellect swirling around The Great Mystery’s Super Sleuth Edition this year is keeping everyone on their toes!  This week, the Super Sleuth prize was claimed straightaway this morning by the intrepid East West Alliance.  Congratulations to them and to all of you who are striving earnestly to solve each weekly puzzle.

East West Alliance happily claimed a pizza gift certificate from McKay’s Taphouse and a flat of gorgeous plant starts from the Explorations greenhouse.  Many thanks to McKay’s and to the Explorations Academy cooking and gardening program!

Meanwhile, it seems that our Family Edition teams are falling behind:  It’s Week Three and we still have a Week Two prize waiting to be claimed.  So Family Edition folks, don’t hold back — go for it!  And to all of you:  Happy Sleuthing!

We have a Week One Family Edition Winner!

Congratulations to The Subdued Dudes, who gracefully swooped into our office this morning to claim the first of the Family Edition prizes:  A set of free coffee coupons for their team!

Again, the weekly answer you are seeking will be a card looking very much like each of the clue cards, except it will have the words “Week One Answer” in the corner.  It will be encryped and thus, in and of itself, meaningless.  But be not fooled: you want to EXACTLY record the weekly answer, because it will matter as we approach the Culminating Mystery!

Again, enjoy yourself while you’re out exploring our town, thinking outside the box, collaborating with your team, and applying deductive reasoning.  We wish you all the best in moving ahead with The Great Mystery, and happy sleuthing!

Newsflash: Super Sleuth Week Two Prize Claimed — ALREADY??

Dear followers of The Great Mystery, be it known that, with remarkable alacrity and verve, The Asset Managers stunned the world — or at least a few residents thereof — by bringing in the Super Sleuth Week Two answer just as our office was about to close on Friday afternoon!  This answer (encrypted of course like every weekly answer) earned The Asset Managers a lovely and indulgent gift certificate at Mallard Ice Cream.  Cheers to them, tears to the other Super Sleuth teams, and apparently the race is truly on with the setting of this new speed standard.

Meanwhile, Family Edition teams still have both the Week One and Week Two prizes sitting unclaimed, so don’t dally!  And to all of you, be sure to patronize our supporting businesses, without whom there would be no prizes at all for The Great Mystery.   Happy Sleuthing!