Do you know what’s hanging above the entrance at Joe Jost’s? How many lightbulbs does Ace Hardware have in its ceiling? These are all questions you can find the answer to by participating in the 2nd Annual Discover East Long Beach Treasure Hunt.
Beginning this Saturday in the Farmers & Merchants Bank parking lot, located at 3104 E. Anaheim St., participants will walk the district along East Anaheim Street between Junipero Ave. and Pacific Coast Highway, looking for answers to the clues they will receive at the start. With all proceeds benefiting the local non-profit, The Long Beach Playhouse, for a $20 registration, participants will receive an event t-shirt, snacks and water, lunch at the conclusion of the event and several chances to win prizes valued at $5,000.
The East Anaheim Street Business Alliance (EASBA), representing nearly 400 businesses, will be hosting the Discover East Long Beach Treasure Hunt in an effort to introduce Long Beach “treasure hunters” to the wide array of businesses that make up such a vibrant district.
Rod Wilson, President of the EASBA, explained, “East Anaheim Street is, for Long Beach Transit, it’s the busiest street they have out of all their routes and fundamentally it’s a highway, and we see cars going up and down the street every day, but very few of them stop. They don’t know that they can have lunch, they can get their car washed, worked on, they can do some shopping, you know, and do some unique things all in one stop. We wanted to put something together that would get people to take a moment to look around and to see what’s going on here.”
“The fact that we can hold such an event in East Long Beach, one that will positively impact local businesses and, at the same time, benefit a great local non-profit like the Long Beach Playhouse makes it a win-win for us,” said Andrew Vonderschmitt, Long Beach Playhouse Executive Director, in a statement, “With all proceeds going to the Playhouse, this event will raise much needed funds to support the arts in our local community.”
According to Wilson, last year the EASBA hosted a walkathon and donated a phenomenal sum of about $10,000 to ChildNet. Wilson said, “Last year we had great feedback. Everybody enjoyed doing the walk, but the one thing that kept coming up was I wish we had focused a little more on meeting each of the businesses. This year, we decided to turn this one into an opportunity to where everybody who signs up, has to physically go in, has to look around, talk to the owner, and this will engage people to learn a little bit about things that we think people will have fun with and they’ll get learn a little about each of the businesses and what they have to offer.”
The finish line festival, sponsored by Farmers & Merchants Bank, will feature family-friendly activities and lunch catered by Cafe Lorel and Sliced & Diced, not to mention music spun by DJ Lovelace. The more questions you answer, the more raffle tickets you’ll receive, giving you a better chance at winning awesome prizes, such as a big screen TV, a stereo and even cash. Each business will also be giving away prizes of their own as you drop by and some of the questions have been written specifically for kids, making the EASBA Treasure Hunt a family friendly fun event.
The confirmed participating businesses are:
- Urban Americana
- Café Lorel
- Cookies by Design
- Park Avenue Salon
- El Burrito Grill
- Studio-H Conditioning
- Park East Fitness
- Joe Jost’s
- The Crooked Duck
- Ace Hardware
- Jevtic Chiropractic, Inc.
- Holé Molé
- Masterworks Construction
- Callaloo Caribbean Kitchen
- Anytime Fitness
- The Red Leprechaun
- Coastal Paint & Decorating
- Mozena Medical
- Aristotext
- Sliced & Diced
- DiPiazza’s
- Coastal Motor Group
- BeMe Boutique
- Roundin’ 3rd Sports Bar
- Iguana Kelly’s
- Long Beach Playhouse
- Sani-Tec
- Edward Jones: Michael Shafer, Financial Advisor
- Cherry Creek Mortgage
- Encore Awards
- Advanced Auto Repair
- Law Offices of Alisa Admiral
- Star Tek Cell Phone Repair
The hunt starts at 9:30 AM, Saturday, October 4, 201 at the Farmers & Merchants Bank parking lot located at 3104 E. Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90804. To register online click here or call 562-494-3800.