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On the scavenger hunt

Sarasota residents dressed up as storm trooper at Yoder's for international scavenger hunt.


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  • | 6:00 a.m. August 18, 2016
Courtesy photo. Item #76
Courtesy photo. Item #76
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Did you see two teenagers casually jogging near Marina Jack — who happened to be wearing pineapple-shell shoes with matching pineapple-top caps?

If so, you probably witnessed teammates Breana Bacon and Autumn Byrd completing Item No. 7 on their list for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, or GISHWHES.

The global scavenger hunt was created in 2011 by American actor Misha Collins, from the CW TV series “Supernatural,” as a publicity stunt. Since then, it has turned into an annual event for fans.

Participants from around the world are eligible to participate. Now in her fourth year of competing, Bacon, 19, created a team for this year’s competition that included participants in California, Utah, Australia and the United Kingdom.

As team members complete tasks, they document them with photo or video submissions. Each task completed earns the team points.



Points are still being tallied to decide which international team will join Collins in Iceland for dog sledding on a glacier, partying inside a volcano and thermal hot-spring water fights.

Here, Bacon sounds off on some of the highlights.

Courtesy photo. Item #132
Courtesy photo. Item #132
Item #132

Seven days of happiness! Each day of GISHWHES, do one thing to make someone else happy and document it. Each photo must be taken and submitted on a different day. You must submit a photo of what you have done on day one of the hunt to make someone else happy. 

“I bought a movie ticket for this lovely couple,” Bacon said. “Autumn Byrd, my best friend and fellow teammate, shared her pizza with a Tijuana Flats worker.”

Item #23
Courtesy photo. Item #23
Courtesy photo. Item #23

The versatility of corn is amazing — it has so many uses! However, there’s no better use for corn than this year’s must-have fashion statement: the Corn Husk Bikini or Corn Husk Evening Wear! Feel free to color the husks, as well as to accent and accessorize with kernels.
“Autumn Byrd made the corn husk bikini. Our model is Annaka Groeteke,” Bacon said.

Courtesy photo.
Courtesy photo.
Item #48

Let’s stop sugarcoating our grievances and complaints! Actually, strike that — let’s actually sugar coat them. Confront your boss or an employee about an issue in the workplace that has been irking you. While doing so, you must be entirely coated in powdered sugar. Your body language must convey your frustration.
“My mom had a great time covering me in powdered sugar. My boss here is my dad,” Bacon said.

Courtesy photo. Item #76
Courtesy photo. Item #76
Item #76

Nobody ever talks about the fact that 250 years ago, stormtroopers who had been abandoned on planet Earth were forced to assimilate into pre-Industrial culture. Dramatically re-enact this difficult time. Show a stormtrooper getting back to basics using a spinning wheel, butter churn, or other old-fashioned tool or machine in a rural setting. Feel free to add accessories to the stormtrooper’s outfit to make their assimilation more complete.

“This is me at Yoder’s restaurant for a backdrop,” Bacon said.

Item #79
Courtesy photo. Item #79
Courtesy photo. Item #79

Cross something off your bucketlist while wearing a vintage zoot suit. “Autumn’s bucket list item was to watch the sun set while on the water. She was on my dad’s boat,” Bacon said.

 

Item #7

Are you still jogging occasionally? Good. Be sure to try out this year's latest fashion craze: pineapple shell shoes with matching pineapple caps to protect you from the sun. Let’s see you (carefully) jogging in public.

 

 

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