A train rumbles past the City Hall/library in Chelsea, Iowa. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
I’m fascinated with history, particularly when it has local relevance.
A new contest from Iowa Valley Scenic Byway Coordinator Dora Bopp ups the ante by combining history with places that I treasure in Tama County, along with the added element of a mystery.
The contest just got under way and will run through September 27. If you solve the mystery, you can enter to win one of three $50 cash prizes and an overnight murder mystery package at Chelsea’s Periwinkle Place Manor. The manor is a converted funeral home in Chelsea, the perfect setting for a murder mystery.
Read on for more from the Iowa Valley RC&D about the Tama Town Mystery:
Iowa has a lot of famous and interesting people who got their start in small rural towns before making it big. But a lot of the people of the past don’t come up in regular café conversation and aren’t mentioned in our school textbooks – a real shame considering how unique and fascinating their lives were.
This summer, for ten weeks, Iowa Valley RC&D invites you to participate in the Tama Town Mystery for a chance to learn about one fascinating person from the past who shouldn’t be forgotten.
The Tama Town Mystery takes place along the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway and will have participants traveling to the four Tama County towns of Montour, Tama, Toledo and Chelsea. There are ten clues to find, each one posted at a different town business. The mystery is solved when the person can be identified.
Spectators watch the “human tractor pull” in Chelsea, Iowa, during the town’s sesquicentennial celebration in 2014. Chelsea is among the communities participating in a “Tama Town Mystery.” (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Event organizer and Iowa Valley Scenic Byway Coordinator Dora Bopp says the clues aren’t too easy. “With the internet just a smart phone away we were careful to craft each clue so that alone it wouldn’t be enough information, but together the set of ten clues make it possible to solve.” Although, she adds, “some very good detectives may be able to solve the mystery in only a few clues. We’ll see.”
Participants who solve the mystery can submit their answer and contact information for a chance to win one of three $50 cash prizes and an overnight murder mystery package at Chelsea’s Periwinkle Place Manor.
Bopp says that the mystery alone is worth the driving and sleuthing, but a benefit is also getting a chance to explore four small Iowa towns, the scenic byway, and a summer Iowa landscape.
For more information about how to get started on the Tama Town Mystery visit Iowa Valley RC&D’s website www.ivrcd.org
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