In the era of COVID-19, it can be nearly impossible to travel down the street, let alone across the country or world. But people in Northern Arizona looking for a fun, safe way to interact with their families across the globe do have an option.
Virtual scavenger hunts are available via Tara Golden and her Creative Soul Scavenger Hunts. In the past, Golden’s scavenger hunts involved interacting with locals in public places. Now that that’s not possible, she’s adjusted her hunts to be social distancing friendly.
Anyone interested should contact Golden 24 hours before they want to do their scavenger hunt. Upon contact, Golden will ask the participants about their surroundings, their interests and some personal questions like favorite colors, songs, etc. Upon learning that information, Golden will put the hunts together. Then, when it’s time for the scavenger hunt, Golden will connect with all of the participants via WhatsApp, acting as something of a game show host.
“The goal in the past was joyousness and creativity — connection with locals and learning the area,” Golden said. “Now it’s changed to joy, creativity and the new focus is connectivity. I hope I can offer a joyful experience to someone, curating a game that’s joyous and memory building.”
One person who did the tour was Joan Boldt, who lives in Tucson and connected with her daughter and two granddaughters in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
“Tara was excellent at crafting the activities to suit everyone in our group and the places we were in. It was wonderful to connect in this way with my far away family,” Boldt said.
A good part of the experience has changed. Not only are participants unable to explore populated areas and interact with locals, but even people who live down the street from each other really can’t get together and interact as teammates. Instead, they’ll all be on their own phones.
But even in the world before COVID-19, Golden put hunts together for friends and relatives in different parts of the world, giving them a chance to interact. From that end, Golden and her business were a little ahead of the curve.
“Some experiences are going to lend themselves better to this rethinking,” she said. “Fortunately, I’ve already been doing this hosting remotely so I’m a few steps ahead.”
Golden noted that she’d be willing to offer discounts to first responders or people in the medical world looking for a break and a safe way to interact with loved ones.
The scavenger hunts take roughly an hour. Golden stated that the only way that the scavenger hunts can really work is if everyone participating is 100% invested, saying that even one uninterested person can spoil the fun for all other participants.
“We need people to not answer the phone or watch TV for an hour,” she said. “The trick is that we can only have people that want to do it. You can’t sign up for people who don’t want to do it. We can’t resurrect a person that doesn’t want to do it. Better to have three in the family who really want to do it and have the fourth person sit out.”
More information about the tours can be found at creativesoulscavengerhunts.com. Golden can be reached via text, calling or WhatsApp at (505) 692-0644 and by email at doornumberthreefilms@yahoo.com.
