By Molly McGowan
Times-News Staff Writer

Published: Wednesday, October 1, 2014 at 4:30 a.m.

Think you know your hometown? Hendersonville’s upcoming “Hendo Hunt” event in November aims to challenge local schools, businesses and individuals to decode clues along downtown’s Main Street — while raising money for three nonprofits.

The Nov. 8 fact-finding scavenger hunt is the newest event developed by Elevents, a relatively new Henderson County organization that uses its event planning and entertainment expertise to raise awareness and funds for other community agencies and nonprofits.

Graham Mew, spokesman for Elevents, said the goal of the Hendo Hunt is threefold: raise money from the $2 event fees for Team ECCO, Free REIN and Friends of the Mill House; encourage Hendersonville residents to learn more about their downtown area; and boost the Main Street economy.

Profits from the event will benefit downtown Hendersonville’s own Team ECCO aquarium and marine education programs, Friends of the Mill House — a 200-year-old organization supporting The Millhouse Lodge — and Free REIN, a therapeutic riding program for children and adults with physical, mental and emotional limitations.

And, Mew said, “It gets everyone downtown, walking into businesses.”

During the Hendo Hunt, players will receive a Monopoly-style game board with downtown Main Street businesses occupying the spaces. The corners of the board will be anchors held by Hendo Hunt’s main sponsors, which are still needed.

Clues on the back of the game board will, once decoded, send players to various downtown spots, both challenging locals’ knowledge and sending potential customers directly to small businesses.

Mew said the businesses hiding clues will give stamps or stickers to treasure hunters who’ve guessed correctly, and the goal of the game is to collect all the businesses’ stamps in the fastest time.

He said players and teams can start anytime between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Nov. 8, and both the start and completion times of turned-in game boards will be recorded to see who scavenged the fastest.

Mew said there will be awards and prizes for the individual or team that wins, as well as raffle prizes — and possibly a Twitter- or Instagram-driven photo contest — during the hunt.

Ideally, Elevents would like to see high school teams compete against each other and local banks pitted against another local banks for bragging rights.

Mew said, “If we have 100 people coming through there, we’ve driving 100 people to Main Street on a Saturday in November,” during prime Christmas-shopping season.

“The city is behind it, because it helps drive business,” he said. “So the city wins. The merchants all win. The people all win, because they know what’s on Main Street now.”

Elevents is still looking for donors and sponsors for the Hendo Hunt. To participate or donate, call 828-388-1767 or email info@ELEVENTS.org.

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Reach McGowan at molly.mcgowan@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7871.

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Follow Molly McGowan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TNmollymcgowan