Get ready for a winter adventure in Rockville Centre, where the holiday spirit is alive as the season returns — along with the Snowman Hunt.
The Chamber of Commerce has launched the ninth annual Snowman Hunt, inviting all children ages 12 and under to join in the fun. The event kicked off on Small Business Saturday last weekend, and young residents are now on a quest to find snowmen on display in participating small businesses throughout the village.
The businesses have snowman decals on their window, signaling to families on the hunt that a hidden snowman plush can be found inside, from now until Dec. 8. A child who finds a snowman receives a raffle ticket for the drawing for the grand prize, a $500 gift card. In addition, there are special prizes for finding the snowmen in each participating business.
Maps are available for hunters at Polka Dot Pound Cake, at 217 N. Long Beach Road. Participation in the event is free.
The hunt, created to help families to become familiar with the wide variety of small businesses Rockville Centre has to offer, has grown in recent years. Previously, children marked off each location they visited until they had a list of 10, to qualify for the grand prize. This year, the chamber drew inspiration from the Little Fall Festival, held in the Little Town business district in October. The festival’s scavenger hunt was widely praised for encouraging families to explore new areas they may not have seen before.
“The scavenger hunt was so exciting for the kids because they got something at each store,” chamber Vice President Donna O’Reilly said. “It was really nice to hear parents say, ‘Oh, I didn't know this store was here,’ so it was a great introduction to our business community. The businesses were getting visibility they hadn’t had before.”
There are now 33 participating businesses across the village, making this the largest Snowman Hunt ever. “When the adults see the map and say, ‘Hey, there's a new boutique in town — I forgot that it’s on the map,’ it reminds them to visit a new business or discover one they haven’t had a chance to check out yet,” said Lisa Umansky, the chamber’s director and past president, and the owner of Polka Dot Pound Cake.
The idea for the Snowman Hunt was Umansky’s: She took a simple holiday tradition and turned it into something much bigger.
“Around 10 years ago, I came to the chamber with an idea,” she recalled. “Elf on the Shelf was peaking in popularity, and I thought, how can we turn that into a scavenger hunt for the community and the business community? That’s when I came up with the Snowman Hunt to kick off Small Business Saturday.”
At a time when online shopping was on the rise, Umansky and other chamber members were determined to support small businesses during the holiday season. “I was a little concerned that foot traffic to everyone’s small business areas would suffer because of online shopping,” she recounted. “I thought the Snowman Hunt would be a fun way to keep people engaged — something for families to do, for kids to run around town and find snowmen in participating businesses. It would also remind the community to shop local.”
The hunt has become a beloved tradition that unites the business community and residents. “The holidays are so much fun to begin with, and this just adds a fun game for the entire community to participate in,” Umansky said.
“The Snowman Hunt is a wonderful tradition that brings our community together while supporting the small businesses that make Rockville Centre so special,” Mayor Francis X. Murray wrote to the Herald. “It’s a fun, family-friendly way to explore our village, and I’m grateful to our Chamber of Commerce for creating an event that celebrates local spirit and encourages our young residents to get involved.”
For more information on the Hunt, visit RockvilleCentreChamberOfCommerce.com.
