How the Golden Coconut was found

AnnaMaria Windisch-Hunt, Oscar Thompson, Tom Falco, Steve Licata

I had the Golden Coconut during the Coconut Scavenger Hunt on Saturday. We had always wanted to have it a moving element in the hunt, but we weren't sure who would do that.

The day before it was decided that I would do it, for one main reason -- The Grapevine was one of the clues, but we don't have a bricks and mortar place, but it seemed only fair to have the Grapevine involved, since people would be looking for that.

One person in fact asked me at the start off point if I was one of the clues. I told her to look on line at 3:15 pm, when the clue would be posted. Here.

The poem/clue for the Grapevine was:

Not bricks and mortar, but by going online,
get Grove news that is fresh and just picked form the vine.

Anyway, at about 3 pm, I left the sign-up booth at Mayfair (by the bull) and went to the parking lot across the street, where I had the Golden Coconut in my car. I put it in a bag and handed it to a friend, who then met me in The Bookstore. We exposed the Golden Coconut in The Bookstore.

Since no one came in, even though they were one of the places participating, we went out the side door onto Virginia Street and walked to Bice, at CocoWalk, another participant. Still no takers.

We exited again onto Virginia Street and just then one of the participants spied me, or so I thought. So as he sort of walked toward me, I walked toward him, holding out the coconut and smiling. Only for some strange reason, he turned and went the other way. (He told me later that he didn't see me and he was heading toward Out of Africa, just realizing that clue).

We then took the coconut the other way, toward Olav's Pommes and Pane restaurant, another participant and then through the Mayfair entry area, where people from the hotel oooed and aahed at the shiny gold object. One doorman asked it is was a papaya.

We walked down Florida Avenue, turned into the plaza at Mayfair and stopped at Hibiscus Hill, Sweetpea, the owner, was telling me that she was all out of coconuts, because the participants had already cleaned her out of her supply.

Just then, little Oscar, walked up to us with his mother. He asked "Do you have any coconuts?" I held up the Golden Coconut and handed it to him and told him he was the grand prize winner. His mother and he were very excited.

While we didn't allow anyone to carry the coconuts in any sort of bag as part of the game, we felt that if people saw the Golden Coconut, they would just stop searching, so we asked them to put it in the backpack they had and just remove it at the finish line (the fountain at CocoWalk).

The ironic part is that the guy who had seen me on Virginia and then headed to Out of Africa, may have had a second chance since we were headed right that way, but as fate would have it, we stopped to talk with Sweetpea and were delayed on our way, which would have been right past Out of Africa. And that's when Oscar approached us.

And that's how the Golden Coconut was found by little Oscar Thompson!

Photo by Javier Lopez-Rosende of www.snapphotography.biz