NEW ULM - Two local teens -Mikyla, 15, and Kate, 13, Denney have created a "Discovery Quest" of historic downtown New Ulm as a project for their Girl Scout Silver Award.
The main focus of this quest is for people of all ages to explore the history of downtown New Ulm using various clues leading them to a discovery quest treasure box.
The girls are the daughters of Mark and Tracie Denney of New Ulm.
People picked up clues Saturday afternoon from the Denney sisters in front of the Visitor's Center located at Center and Minnesota Streets.
"I think it's a really fun thing - especially for a family ... and it's free," said Kate.
Mikyla and Kate first heard about creating a quest from their mother, Tracie Denney, who had attended a meeting and learned about them. The girls thought it sounded like a fun thing to do and something different to work on for earning their Silver Award.
They had to do certain amount of Girl Scout badge work before they could get to this part of the award. Their project also had to be approved by the Girl Scout Council before they could begin working on it.
Mikyla and Kate, who both began working on their discovery quest in June, must each give 40 hours of work to the project. Their work has involved spending some time walking downtown New Ulm and looking at the historic buildings. They have also done research on the buildings to come up with their clues.
"It's been interesting ... we've noticed a lot of stuff we've never noticed before," said Mikyla.
They were able to come up with at least 15 clues for this quest. It took them a while to write the clues because they made each one rhyme.
The first clue starts out like ... "Your journey begins in New Ulm's historical downtown. It may sound boring to you, but don't worry or frown. The history of these buildings is interesting to know. New Ulm started out little but continued to grow."
There were also some trial runs done with the quest. Three trial runs were done by family members and one run was done by another Girl Scout to make sure the clues were effective.
The girls also spent time designing the flyers.
Mikyla and Kate also created their own "stamp" which is made out of a mouse pad and flip flops they said. The stamp is found in the treasure box. People can stamp and also keep their flyer.
The quest takes approximately 40 minutes to complete. People of any age can go on the quest, although you do have to know how to read or have help reading the clues. The flyers for the quest are available annually from May through September at the Visitor's Center in New Ulm. People can do the quest whenever it works for them during this time frame.
"It gets people exploring the town a little bit," said Tracie Denney.
Another quest will be held on Sept. 12.
The quest was created by Mikyla and Kate Denney for their Silver Award in cooperation with the Prairie Ecology Bus Center.
