County Parks Launch Poetry Scavenger Hunt

This spring, there are more than just flowers blooming in Santa Cruz County. In celebration of National Poetry Month, poetry has left the page and is popping up in County Parks.

In a project sponsored by Santa Cruz County Parks, Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate Nancy Miller Gomez, and amazing local businesses sponsors, poems by local and national poets have been installed in 16 county parks. Everyone is invited to join us in this county-wide Poetry Scavenger Hunt. In this self-guided experience, we want you to enjoy the parks through your own poetic lens.

With the poem as your guide, explore each participating park to find elements that connect to the poem. The hunt is open-ended, so be creative and let your imagination run wild. Use your cell phone (or a sketch pad) to document your interpretive discoveries. Your scavenged responses can be literal, metaphorical, abstract, artistic, zany, beautiful or weird.

Upload your photos (or your sketches) as a post to your Instagram account and add @poetryintheparks as a collaborator. A review panel will choose a winner for each location, and they will receive a prize from a sponsoring business!

Are you up for the challenge? Invite your friends, bring a picnic, find a poem, snap some pics, win a prize!

Details on how to participate, more information about the poets, and sponsor info can be found at www.santacruzcountyca.gov