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Couple finds key to free Cooper
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| Rick and Karla Thompson (left) of Independence pore over a brochure to select options for the new Mini Cooper they won in Our Iowa’s “Iowa Treasure Hunt”. |
INDEPENDENCE - The first-ever “Iowa Treasure Hunt” drew to a close when Rick and Karla Thompson discovered a packet attached to the bottom of a picnic table in a public park in Independence.
Inside was a key and a note, stating: “You Found It! You’ve just won a free Mini Cooper car in Our Iowa magazine’s statewide Treasure Hunt!”
Ironically, the Thompsons weren’t searching for the key at the time. It was a Sunday afternoon, and they were involved in the increasingly popular geo-caching. The game involves following given coordinates to different locations, then finding new coordinates and moving on.
“We were just searching under the picnic table for our next set of coordinates when we found the plastic packet held down by thumb tacks,” says Rick. “When we found the key and learned we’d won a new car, we stopped looking for the geo-cache in that park right then!”
The search for the key had gone on for more than a year, and excitement grew as the search area got smaller and smaller.
The Our Iowa staff announced the contest in its Premiere Issue in September, 2007. Then, they gradually squeezed down the search area by eliminating 10 counties each issue where the key wasn’t hidden.
Half of Counties Remained
A map of Iowa was printed in each bi-monthly issue, each time blanking out 10 additional “it’s-not-hidden-there” counties. By the current issue, only 49 of Iowa’s 99 counties were still in the running.
Editors gave several reasons for the contest. “We wanted to draw attention and traffic to Iowa’s public park system, and we urged folks to take along a garbage bag and pick up litter while searching,” says Editor Jerry Wiebel.
“And, okay, we’ll admit it. When launching a new magazine, getting folks to talk about it is, well, ‘golden’. And this contest quickly became the talk in coffee shops all across the state.”
For the Thompsons, the finding and the timing couldn’t have been better. Rick drives 60 miles from Independence to Dubuque to work at a computer software company--in a 1999 Lumina with 305,000 miles on it.
“So we were more than ready for a new car,” says Rick, “and driving this cute little Cooper should be fun. We still can’t believe how all this happened and how lucky we are. Sometimes good things just happen.”
The Thompsons are now picking out the color and features of the car, and expect delivery of their free Mini Cooper as soon as the dealer can get that model on hand.
Inside was a key and a note, stating: “You Found It! You’ve just won a free Mini Cooper car in Our Iowa magazine’s statewide Treasure Hunt!”
Ironically, the Thompsons weren’t searching for the key at the time. It was a Sunday afternoon, and they were involved in the increasingly popular geo-caching. The game involves following given coordinates to different locations, then finding new coordinates and moving on.
“We were just searching under the picnic table for our next set of coordinates when we found the plastic packet held down by thumb tacks,” says Rick. “When we found the key and learned we’d won a new car, we stopped looking for the geo-cache in that park right then!”
The search for the key had gone on for more than a year, and excitement grew as the search area got smaller and smaller.
The Our Iowa staff announced the contest in its Premiere Issue in September, 2007. Then, they gradually squeezed down the search area by eliminating 10 counties each issue where the key wasn’t hidden.
Half of Counties Remained
A map of Iowa was printed in each bi-monthly issue, each time blanking out 10 additional “it’s-not-hidden-there” counties. By the current issue, only 49 of Iowa’s 99 counties were still in the running.
Editors gave several reasons for the contest. “We wanted to draw attention and traffic to Iowa’s public park system, and we urged folks to take along a garbage bag and pick up litter while searching,” says Editor Jerry Wiebel.
“And, okay, we’ll admit it. When launching a new magazine, getting folks to talk about it is, well, ‘golden’. And this contest quickly became the talk in coffee shops all across the state.”
For the Thompsons, the finding and the timing couldn’t have been better. Rick drives 60 miles from Independence to Dubuque to work at a computer software company--in a 1999 Lumina with 305,000 miles on it.
“So we were more than ready for a new car,” says Rick, “and driving this cute little Cooper should be fun. We still can’t believe how all this happened and how lucky we are. Sometimes good things just happen.”
The Thompsons are now picking out the color and features of the car, and expect delivery of their free Mini Cooper as soon as the dealer can get that model on hand.
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