\u201cEverybody had fun and we really enjoyed it,\u201d says Optimist Club member Carol Bartlett, noting the 25 registered vehicles brought 90 individuals into the Rally. \u201cThere were about 40 points of interest on the Scavenger Hunt, and we advised our participants that they didn\u2019t have to hit all 40, there were no points for speed, just points for whatever you could get done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe beauty of this was they could choose something that they were interested in. We had them look for a rotary phone, and they had to snap a photo with a teammate beside it. They had to find the current exhibition in the Great Hall Gallery at the Aurora Cultural Centre. We had them find Optimist Park and take a team photo. They had to go through a drive-thru and take a picture of the employee serving them. They had to find one of the five parks in Aurora that had pickleball courts\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In short, there was a lot of Aurora to see during the inaugural Rally and Bartlett and event co-chair Sandra Watson are hard at work to make sure this year\u2019s Scavenger Hunt list is fresh, fun, and could even take participants further into Newmarket and Richmond Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year\u2019s event raised $9,500 for the club, which went directly back into their youth programs, including initiatives focusing on improving food insecurity being experienced by kids, supporting local sports teams and arts programs, and individual children in ways as varied as a youth who needs new glasses, a snowsuit, or whatever the need might be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019d like to improve that number, and we\u2019re all about it being a community event first and then a fundraiser second,\u201d says Bartlett. \u201cWe\u2019ve done really well with sponsors this year and Highland GM is back on as our Premium Sponsor. Everything will take place at the Highland dealership.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, the fun gets underway at Highland GM with registration at 9 a.m., the Rally commencing at 9.30 a.m., and teams due back at Highland by 12.30 p.m. for lunch and prizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cost per car is $50 and this fee includes lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCome on out \u2013 it\u2019s a feel-good event, meet some Optimists, meet some people from the community,\u201d says Bartlett. \u201cAll the participants aren\u2019t necessarily Optimists, it\u2019s your community. It\u2019s a great way to come out and see what the Optimist Club is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For more information on the 2026 Road Rally, including registration, visit www.eventbrite.com\/e\/2026-optimist-club-of-aurora-road-rallyscavenger-hunt-tickets-1985319151024<\/a>. For more on the work the Optimist Club of Aurora carries out throughout the year, visit www.auroraoptimist.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Brock Weir If you like to spend your weekends in the great outdoors, on the open road, and exploring the community around you, rev up your engines for the Optimist Club of Aurora\u2019s second-annual Road Rally Scavenger Hunt. Set to take place throughout Aurora, and into Newmarket and Richmond Hill, on Saturday, May 23, it is billed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9TZ","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 02:57:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38070,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38067\/revisions\/38070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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