By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
People are encouraged to visit downtown Yukon for the 2023 Floating Founder Scavenger Hunt.
The annual contest, featuring $1,000 in prizes, is a project of Yukon Main Street’s Design Point.
This Yukon history project is a highlight of National Historic Preservation Month in May.
The contest features two puzzles with sentences about Yukon’s founding and the city’s founders, Lewis and Augustus Spencer.
“Floating founder” coloring pages, puzzle entry forms, instructions, and maps may be picked up at the Yukon Main Street office, 528 E Main; or Archery Traditions, 328 Elm, during regular operating hours.
Contestants will find puzzle clues during May and June by reading 11 posters at nine downtown Yukon storefront windows.
Puzzle #1: 10 W Main, 134 W Main, 316 Elm, and 328 Elm,
Puzzle #2: 401 W Main, 440 W Main, 429 W Main, 503 W Main, and 528 W Main.
Completed entries may be turned in at any of these places.
Contest participants will win prizes by solving the puzzles and finding two, 2-foot-tall objects hidden in plain sight on the exterior of one business.
Born during the mid-1800s in Ohio, the Spencer brothers invested in railroads and owned many cattle.
While herding cattle along the Chisholm Trail, they found an area in central Oklahoma where they wanted to build a town. That area became Yukon.
‘DO AS LITTLE OR AS MUCH’
The Floating Founder Scavenger Hunt is organized by Yukon Main Street volunteer Carol Mowdy Bond, a Yukon historian and writer.
“People may do as little or as much of the hunt as they want,” Bond said. “They may stop at any point in time.”
The posters include information about Yukon’s Czech history, Yukon Czech Hall, Oklahoma Czechs Building, Dale Robertson’s Haymaker Farms, Carson Corner/Snyder’s IGA, Yukon Mill & Grain Co., Yukon Mill’s Business Office, and the Interurban Railroad.
Yukon Chamber of Commerce CEO Pam Shelton, at the May 11 chamber membership luncheon, encouraged groups of participate in the scavenger hunt as part of a fun social outing.
Visit yukon66mainstreet.com for more information about the Floating Founder Scavenger Hunt.
Mayor Shelli Selby has declared National Historic Preservation Month in the City of Yukon.
“Historic preservation is an effective tool for communities across the nation for managing growth, sustaining development, revitalizing historic downtown and neighborhoods, and maintaining community character while enhancing livability,” the proclamation reads.
Yukon’s Best History Display and Contest from 2022 was named “Best Community Education Campaign” during the 33rd annual Oklahoma Main Street Awards Banquet on May 2 in Oklahoma City.
