so you think

This week we launch a new feature — a weekly reader-participation contest in which you are challenged to identify a particular spot in the greater Idyllwild area from a somewhat limited photograph. The prize is two tickets to the Rustic Theatre for use any week, your picture in the Town Crier taken at the location in question, and life membership in the No. 1 Hillbilly Detective Agency.

Rules and guidelines: The contest is open to all persons of all ages. The photo will depict a very particular spot in Idyllwild, Pine Cove, Fern Valley or Mountain Center, which will be on the exterior building or in the surrounding grounds of a commercial, governmental or nonprofit premises or public place.

A potential winner will correctly identify the spot in a sealed envelope, attn: Jack, actually delivered to the Town Crier office before noon on the following Monday (or Tuesday, if the Town Crier is closed Monday for a holiday). The particular spot must be identified. It’s no good to say “It’s the wall at _________’s.”

You’re going to have to describe the actual spot by measuring, pacing off or some other more specific description. Taking your own photograph of the spot would be ideal, but is not necessary to win as long as you persuade the judge that you have found the exact spot depicted in the contest photo. The decision of the judge is final. This is not a race. If there is more than one person with a correct answer, a drawing will determine the winner, so when you’ve located the spot, don’t spread its whereabouts around.

If there is no winner in a particular week, the photo will be reprinted in the Town Crier in following weeks with more and more clues until a winner is declared. The prize will carry over each week such that it will be four Rustic Theatre tickets the second week, six tickets the third week and so on.

This week’s contest photo, above. They will not all be this easy or this difficult. There is no clue the first week other than what you can notice in the photo itself. Good hunting.