Brand family finds Brandon's Christmas Spirit
By:
Staff reports
Brandon’s Christmas Spirit has been found, and the “finders” made it a family affair!
Kim Brand, husband, Matt and their two daughters, Briley, 7, and Kennady, 3, spied the Brandon Valley Journal’s first-ever “I Found Brandon’s Christmas Spirit” ornament nestled among the leaves at Pioneer Park.
With the day off from work last Wednesday, after dropping Kennady off at school that morning, Kim went back on the hunt for the ornament.
“My daughter wanted to go today to look too, but I told her, ‘You have to go to school,’” Kim shared.
While it was Kim who discovered the ornament, she said the family had been on the hunt together over the last few weeks.
“The first place we went to was Pioneer Park, and then we went to McHardy,” Kim said.
With a scheduled four-day trip (Saturday to Tuesday) to Arizona, Kim said after reading the Brandon Valley Journal Friday evening, the family went in search of the ornament Saturday morning before heading to the airport.
“When we got back last night (Tuesday) we went to pick up the Journal at Sunshine, and I read the clue, and I was like, ‘It has to be in a tree.’ So, I had today off and said, ‘I’ll go look.’ When I was taking my daughter to school, there was three people at McHardy and I was like, ‘If it’s not at Pioneer, they’re going to find it!’”
Kim found the star in the grass among the trees on the south side of the roadway leading to the Pioneer Park soccer fields.
“I looked at the playground, then went by the golf course, all the way around, and looked on the inside of all the trees,” she said.
The yellow-painted star – constructed by Tim Jorgenson of Splitrock Furniture and engraved by Monte Albertson of Monte’s Woodshop – actually wasn’t discovered where Journal editor Jill Meier and advertising sales manager Leland Steva had originally stashed it. Nor was it in the same condition. The ornament, which had been hidden in the base of a tree that featured three large trunks located near the No. 4 disc golf target at Pioneer Park, was missing one of its five points and the twine to hang it by.
“It was fun!” Kim told the Journal staff, “and it was hidden well!”
For their reward, the Brand family received a gift bag filled with donated prizes from participating merchants valued at $300. Participating businesses include Shindigs, Hegg Realtors-The Harry Buck Team, Taco John’s, Monte’s Woodshop, Splitrock Furniture, 7th Ave. Hair, Hoover’s Martial Arts and Circuit Fitness.