The hunt is on starting bright an early Friday, Nov. 24.
The first Golden Ticket Challenge will begin this Black Friday in Downtown Springfield and the surrounding areas of the city.
The challenge is hosted in a collaboration between
Champion City Pops, Sweets & Treats and
Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop, and the each person who finds one of the five Golden Tickets will win both one rolled ice cream and one $5 box of candy every month for all of 2024.
“It’s an idea for the city to have a little fun going into this holiday season,” says Tyson Yirak, owner of
Champion City Pops, Sweets & Treats.
Clues to where the tickets can be found will be posted to the social media pages of each business, and patrons who go into each store in person daily will find additional clues not on social media.
“People will be looking for a literal Golden Ticket – not in a chocolate bar,” Yirak says. “Some will be out in the elements and some will not.”
Yirak says he and
Grandpa Joe’s Manager Holly Osbourne decided to team up to do something fun and unique for the holiday and to key up with the beginning of
Holiday in the City festivities.
If you’re the lucky finder of a Golden Ticket, take a selfie with the ticket where you found it, post it to the
Champion City Pops, Sweets & Treats Facebook page with both businesses tagged. Make sure the post if marked as public so the businesses will be notified.
Winners will then stop into one of the businesses to give their name and information, and their year’s worth of free ice cream and candy will start Jan. 1, 2024.
“Consumers and the City of Springfield and Clark County have been extremely supportive of us, and we want to do something fun in response," Yirak says.
Yirak says planning specials each month, keeping the menu fresh, and planning community-involvement activities like the Golden Ticket Challenge also help keep their business visible and active during winter months, which tend to be slower for Downtown Springfield businesses – especially one that focuses on popsicles and ice cream.
“The idea is to get people off the couch and out into the city even with the winter weather,” he says. “We also have warm butterbeer that we’ve been selling quite a bit of; we have a create your own hot chocolate bar; we have bubble waffles; and we have holiday rolled ice cream flavors that we’ll be announcing this Friday also.”
The
Champion City Pops, Sweets & Treats will be open for the
Holiday in the City Grand Illumination kick off Friday with it’s regular menu, as well as the debut of those holiday flavors. And, the shop’s Support Local wall will be packed for shoppers who stop in.
“We’re going very holiday-themed,” Yirak says. “We’ll be supporting events through Holiday in the City, so stay tuned to our Facebook page for more to come.”
To keep up with details about the Golden Ticket Challenge, visit
https://www.facebook.com/championcitypops.
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