Join 'Pickle the Town' scavenger hunt in St. Charles
The St. Charles History Museum and the Downtown St. Charles Partnership are organizing a Pickle the Town Scavenger Hunt in downtown St. Charles in honor of Small Business Saturday, Nov. 26.
Started by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday encourages the public to support their local economy by shopping at independently owned businesses on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.
Now in its sixth year, the program has continued to grow each year, with more involvement on the part of the businesses as well as the consumers.
The majority of downtown St. Charles' businesses are independently owned, including the franchise operations, so the St. Charles History Museum has partnered with the partnership to organize a "Pickle the Town Scavenger Hunt" as a way to further engage the public with the downtown business community.
The rules are simple: follow the St. Charles History Museum on Twitter for hints on the locations of the pickle ornaments; use those clues to find the pickle ornaments; take a selfie in the business with each ornament; and post that selfie on Instagram using the tag #PickleTheTown. Participants can have multiple entries, as long as they are showing a different business each time.
Just be sure to get them up between Saturday, Nov. 26 and Dec. 31.
There will be three categories with one winner for Best Caption, Best Selfie and Most Pickles Found. The winners will receive prizes from the St. Charles History Museum and from various downtown businesses.
Matthew O'Rourke, Economic Development Division Manager, looks forward to the event for St. Charles small businesses.
"Shop Small Saturday is a great reminder of how you can impact a local business, support their family, and support your community," says O'Rourke. "Not only does shopping small keep this money in the community and with your neighbor's business, through sales tax it helps pay for vital city services like snow plowing, water and sewer maintenance, and police and fire protection."
To learn more about Small Business Saturday, visit www.shopsmall.com. To find out more about the Holiday Homecoming parade and the Pickle Scavenger Hunt, visit www.stcmuseum.org or www.downtownstcharles.org/holidays.
Why pickles? German families will hide a pickle ornament on the Christmas tree and the first person to find it will get a prize or is allowed to open their presents first. The St. Charles History Museum came up with the idea of using the German Christmas tradition of hiding a pickle ornament to tell a little history of St. Charles in a fun way.
From 1960 to 2004, St. Charles was the home of Pickle Packers International Headquarters. During this time, the CEO of the company Bill "The Dill" Moore promoted the consumption of pickles to the point of earning St. Charles the title of Pickle Capital of the World. Bill "The Dill" Moore created items such as pickle golf clubs, pickle phones, pickle purses, Miss Pickle Contests and more. These pickle items were not only in St. Charles, but were sent as far as England to Prince Harry and William.
The St. Charles History Museum is in the 1928 McCornack Oil Company building at 215 E. Main St. The building served St. Charles as a gas station from 1928 until 1990. The St. Charles History Museum is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization operating the St. Charles History Museum and historic archive. The Museum holds more than 10,000 photographs in its archive and 15,000 artifacts in its collection. The museum's gift shop is the only place in town to get St. Charles merchandise. In addition to providing historical information about St. Charles, the museum hosts events and speakers to engage the community in different ways alongside St. Charles businesses.
Discover your City Side in downtown St. Charles! The mission of the Downtown St. Charles Partnership is to enhance the economic viability and to preserve the character and beauty of downtown St. Charles. In addition to providing marketing support and education for the downtown business community, it produces the St. Patrick's Parade, the St. Charles Fine Art Show, Jazz Weekend and Holiday Homecoming. For information on membership, volunteer opportunities, and events, visit www.downtownstcharles.org.