By Sherry Larson
People’s Defender
Two minutes, one shopping cart, and free reign of the Save-a-Lot in Peebles, Ohio -that’s what Edith Heisler and Shawna Wolfe experienced this last Wednesday as winners of the first annual Adams County Chamber of Commerce Turkey Hunt. Local businesses sponsored the hunt: Air Evac, Shed Squad, Special Touch Homecare, Hometown Pizza, Lace and Grace Boutique, Max Sells Real Estate in West Union, Roush Insurance Agency, Blake Pharmacy, The Greene Beanery, Peebles Monument Company, Ohio Means Jobs, Kelly’s Southern Ohio Classics, S & N Structures, and Adams County Travel and Visitor’s Bureau. Save-A-Lot in Peebles sponsored one full buggy of goodies, and the sponsors covered the second buggy’s prizes. Each business had a turkey with a letter, and when put together, it spelled “small business.” Participants collected the letters and solved the brainteaser, thus entering their names in a drawing.
Jason Francis, Victoria Hicks, and Haley Davis represented the Chamber at the event, and Brandon Rigdon of C103 covered the festivities. Francis explained the rules. Each contestant had one cart and two minutes to make their way around the store, grabbing groceries and merchandise. Davis would announce the time left at different intervals, and contestants were to make their way to cash register three at the end of the time. If they were late, five items would be deducted from their cart. If their total exceeded $500, they would need to offload some of their choices or pay for the excess.
Wolfe said, “I plan to go around the edges and grab some pop and toilet paper. I aim to get a couple of extra hams that I can give somebody for Christmas.” Heisler’s strategy was to head to the meat and the coffee. She stated, “I’ll be sweating, and I won’t be able to breathe. If I don’t get pet treats, I will be in trouble.”
Heisler was first to make her way through the store with a band of excited bystanders cheering her on to “grab, grab, grab.” Her bill was well under the $500 limit, totaling $310.25, but her cart was still fully stocked.
When Francis asked Heisler about the experience, she stated, “Your heart is racing and racing. It’s very exciting. You really don’t have time to look at exactly what you’re getting. You just must go and just grab.” Heisler admitted she couldn’t identify one item she grabbed but was thankful that she remembered her big box of bacon. She had advice for Wolfe, “I wish her luck, and I’ve told her you don’t take time and think, just grab it and go.” Heisler said she got everything on her list and was very thankful for the experience.
Next up was Wolfe. She said, “I’m going around the edges and grabbing stuff, and when it’s time to come running, I’m running and grabbing stuff.” Wolfe’s cart was spilling over. She went for the hams, so her total surpassed the $500 limit, and a couple of hams were left behind. She said, “I just kept thinking about getting what I could and getting a couple of things to pass onto another family, so I’m not the only one blessed.”
Francis recognized the many sponsors, the owners of Peebles Save-A-Lot, Rick and Heather Sisler, and local community partnerships for the opportunity the event gave to talk about small businesses in Adams County. After all the fun and excitement of this year’s contest, next year is sure to have loads of turkey hunters hoping they will have the opportunity to shop til’ they drop.
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