Scavenger hunt to kick of June 8 in Union County

LA GRANDE — Mushroom-themed art will be popping up across the county on Saturday, June 8, as part of the 2024 Game of Shrooms — a worldwide scavenger hunt.

Ashley Barnes, a local artist and the owner of PineDrops Designs, is the creative visionary and organizational brain bringing the scavenger hunt to Union County. Barnes said that she has wanted to participate in the event for a while now, but wasn’t sure what impact she would have as just one artist.

“I really just want to make a bunch of art and hide it, so I’m going to get other artists involved,” she said.

The Game of Shrooms was started in 2019 by an artist that goes by Attaboy, Barnes said. Any artist can register on the website to officially participate in the event.

Locally, Barnes said there have been around six artists who have officially registered. However, she added, many more artists have posted that they will be participating on the Facebook event page for the Union County scavenger hunt.

The scavenger hunt is meant to be a county-wide event. While Barnes herself plans to hide some of her pieces in downtown La Grande and up at Mount Emily, she said that Sara Bortz, the owner of Knots of Distraction, will most likely be hiding pieces out in Elgin.

On June 8, artists will hide their pieces around the county and then post clues about the location to the Facebook page.

Barnes said that the art must be hidden on public property and she recommends that any businesses who are participating hide their pieces outside of their stores.

She also stressed that this is a leave no trace event. This means that the hidden art has to be removable by the person who finds it, so no stickers. She added that if an artist’s piece is not found then that person is responsible for collecting it.

If there are any artists who would like to participate but are unable to hide their art themselves for the scavenger hunt, Barnes can lend a helping hand.

“I am more than happy to collect art the week leading up to the event. I’ll hide art for artists and post clues,” she said.

She said that those who are hunting for the art are encouraged to post when they find a piece. The art pieces each will come with a little blurb about the event, so that if anyone happens to just stumble across the items without actively being a part of the scavenger hunt, then they will be clued into what’s happening.

“I would love for this to be an annual thing,” Barnes said.

Next year Barnes said that she’d like to set up a booth at the La Grande Farmers Market where people can make mushroom-themed art to be used in the scavenger hunt. She wants people to know that they don’t have to make some big art project to participate.

“Anyone can make art,” Barnes said.