Wendy Crawley was in her pajamas after midnight on Monday, Nov. 1 when she and her cousin, Beth Backherms, finally put together the clues for the first box of this year’s Green Box Giveaway.
“I told Beth that I was in my pajamas, and she said that has never stopped us before!” said Crawley, who hightailed it to Living History Park in North Augusta that night to secure the coveted green box, which corresponds to a real piece of jewelry put up by Windsor Jewelers and their vendors.
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The giveaway was created five years ago by Windsor’s Shane Thompson as a marketing tool. Thompson publishes clues for a hidden green box somewhere in the CSRA and “hunters” must use critical thinking and their knowledge of Augusta history and popular culture to piece together the clues.
A clue will be released every day for a week until someone finds the box. This year’s first green box netted Crawley and Backherms a David Yurman bracelet valued at $2,500.
The clues for this first box were as follows:
With no need to cross, this search begins where a barrier ends.
Many of you have seen it, some of you have seen it two different ways and just a few of you have actually touched it.
Never known for these insects, but now and forever a reminder of them.
Nine pounds eleven ounces seems to be perfect, but is not.
At 3:35, look to the right and you’ll see it.
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The final two clues are direct references to The Patriot, a 2000 film starring Mel Gibson. At 3:35 in the movie, Gibson’s character uses a lathe that was later bought and donated to Living History Park.
Crawley said The Patriot is one of her favorite movies, and “If it’s on, [I’m] watching it.”
Amazingly, it’s Crawley’s second time nabbing the reward. Crawley and Backherms also cracked the #5 box from last season, a difficult box titled the Swamp Fox Box. Crawley said it’s a love for local history that has helped her and her cousin secure two boxes.
“We have been here our whole lives, and I don’t like any other history but local history,” she said. “It’s amazing what we’ve learned since hunting for the green boxes. We learn about things our grandparents did and it increases our appreciation of the area a lot. There’s so much that you learn.”
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Thompson said that the initial idea was to make Windsor Jewelers less intimidating for everyday Augustans and encourage more community engagement.
“One challenge for Windsor is its stature. A lot are impressed by the stature, and some are intimidated by it, as well,” he said. “A lot of folks may never get Windsor a chance because they might not think it’s for them. We wanted to break down that barrier with this event and invite people to the store, interact with our staff, see our inventory and help folks realize it is for them. You can run a thousand ads, but this event tells people to come to the store, interact and maybe one day, you can be a customer. It’s been way more positivity than we expected. It’s grown us in a way that traditional advertising could have never done.”
Other jewelers and stores across the country have contacted Thompson about how to run a similar event for their own communities, as well.
As the success of the challenge has grown, the giveaway has taken on a whole life of its own. There is a Facebook group where hunters discuss and share ideas that has grown to almost 3,000 members, and Thompson said people for miles around perk up each year to join the ranks of hunters. There are 6,000 clue emails going out each morning, according to Thompson.
The community engagement and stories born out of the giveaway has far outweighed the marketing advantage, Thompson said.
“It’s taken on a life as its own. I’ve heard stories about people they’ve met or stories they’ve discovered, Thompson said. “We’ve heard about marriages that were on the rocks and got rekindled by hunting for boxes. Kids talking to parents and grandparents that know the local area. It started as a marketing tool but it’s turned into something we’ve wanted to do for the public. They look forward to it.”
In fact, Crawley herself started searching for the boxes after a fire burned her house down.
“My cousin was trying to get my mind on something besides bad,” Crawley said. “From there, it’s been a tradition with us. My husband has football and hunting season, and we have green box season and people know not to mess with us during that time.”
She said she believes many hunters would play the game just for the box itself.
“It’s a trophy. It’s not just figuring out the clues. You also have to get into Shane’s mind and figure out where exactly he hid the box. It is a trophy.”
Visit the Green Box Giveaway page on Windsor Jewelers’ website to stay up to date on the latest clues.
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
