In 2020, the LWV of Kittitas County held its first Democracy Rocks treasure hunt as a way to engage and educate voters during the 2020 primary election. This year, the hunt was back and featured 17 amazing women, past and present, who have made a positive impact on Kittitas County.

In February, the Kittitas League sent out invitations to Kittitas County museums, libraries, art galleries, bookstores, newspapers, and others to participate as host sites for its Kittitas Women Rock display posters. In addition to sharing information about these little-known women, we wanted to drive traffic back into host organizations and businesses that had suffered during the pandemic.

The Kittitas League had 15 positive responses and lots of excitement about the idea and learned about some amazing women in the process. This year, the League created a Democracy Rocks Treasure Hunt webpage with all the hunt details.

The hunt kicked off on July 1 and ran through August 12. In addition to giving out clues and hints for treasure hunters, the hunt included “Did you know?” facts about voting, registering to vote, and more. As during the first treasure hunt, traffic on the website and across social media was way up.

So far, members have donated more than $550 in gift certificates to area businesses and services to be split into prize awards for the treasure hunters.

Both the inaugural hunt in 2020 and this year’s hunt were underwritten with civics grants from the LWV of Washington, for which the Kittitas League is very grateful. The League views these hunts as primarily a LWV awareness and civic education event (read the Ellensburg Daily Record article on the hunt). The fun is a cherry on top.

For other local Leagues that might be interested in holding a similar event, the LWVWA has a Treasure Hunt Toolkit that is available.

And some treasure hunt buzz:

• From a local reporter: “This is an awesome thing you all have created! It wouldn’t be biased or sexist to say that over the past 15 years I’ve been here, women have been the core of MANY things groups, organizations, charities, schools, and businesses have accomplished. This program gives them a deserved spotlight!”
• From a treasure hunter: “We are submitting this log for our granddaughter, Emily (age 10), to enter for [the] Best Hunter prize. She was accompanied by us (her grandparents) on this treasure hunt. We met so many friendly and helpful people on this journey. We all learned a lot about some very exceptional women who made so many great things happen for our community and the entire county. Thank you for creating this fun and informative experience.”