Advanced Cellular and Grand Old Day – The Wrap-Up

Aric McKeown as an AT&T Wireless Reseller, originally uploaded by s4xton.

Grand Old Day has come and gone again. Grand Avenue in St. Paul was flooded with a stew of people wandering almost aimlessly in the cool yet humid weather.

To make the day, already filled with parades and music and beer, more exiting, Advanced Cellular decided to be insanely generous with their sponsorship of a special Grand Old Day version of Least Dangerous Game.

The prizes were bigger, the stakes were higher, and the game was larger! In a sense. With the promise of bluetooth headsets and a home theater system, only three people showed up to play. Perhaps it was the rain, that held off all day long save for a rare sprinkle.

No matter! Susan, Ang, and Aaron were ready to play! And their odds at winning a Samsung home theater system from Advanced Cellular were very good.

Least Dangerous Game was a little different this time around. With the game limited to Grand Avenue, things were made a little more difficult. There would be three legs to the challenge. Three different hidings spots, with three different challenges for each!

The contestants had to start at the Advanced Cellular booth, find me, complete a task, and return to the Advanced Cellular booth for each leg. It would be a long and tiring day. But a home theater system was at stake, for Pete’s sake!

And so, with the rules in place, the game started promptly at noon. Or, rather, promptly at 12:16pm while I tried to figure out how to send text messages from a Blackberry. With the delayed start, I decided to book it to the first hiding spot. This decision would come back to haunt me later in the day, as my foot would start turning against me in pain. But ignore that for now. I’m running.

I made it to my first location, and sent out the following clues at 7 minute intervals.

Established 1886

There’s a place for fun in your…life?

The aren’t head strong.

The secret first location was the Willwerscheid Funeral Home, home of the Strong Man and Woman Competition at this year’s festivities. The home was established in 1886, the word “fun” is in “funeral,” and then there is a little jab in there about strong men in the clues. Simple enough.

I was found by Susan rather quickly. She was followed a few minutes later by both Aaron and Ang, who would be working as a team for the rest of the day.

The players now had to make their way back to the Advanced Cellular booth, but not before completing their task. They needed to convince five strangers to text their phone number to a specially set up phone number. Susan did a fantastic job with this, and quickly took first place. Ang and Aaron had a tougher time. One text received said “ur mom.” It was amusing, from my side of things.

After a break and a corn dog, the second leg was set to start. I hopped on the Grand Old Day shuttle, which seemed to run once every four hours, and made my way west. A little late again, the clues started going out to the player’s phones.

Their products represent Peter.

I don’t meant to string you along.

I can’t fit under these bridges

The location was Fein Stringed Instruments. Or, rather, a bus bench half a block down from them. You see, I had already walked and run about five miles that day, and wanted to sit. Instruments were being strung and I was slightly interested, but not as interested as my legs were in sitting.

Shortly after my sitting adventure began, Aaron and Ang showed up. Their task was to get back to the Advanced Cellular booth. This location was too far away for any real tasks. About ten minutes later, Susan showed up. While the others had taken a shuttle, she had walked the whole way, about three miles. I told her where the nearest shuttle pickup was, and she was on her way.

Finally, at 3:20pm, the last leg of the day was started.

Wrong festival

What kind of hawk can not fly?

This is shear madness.

The location was the Fringe Salon, which was selling mohawks and shaved heads for ten bucks a pop. The first clue was a Fringe Festival reference, but you’re smart enough to get that, aren’t you?

The race was really on now! Aaron and Ang came running up to me, with Susan seconds behind them. Their scores were very close, and the home theater system could go to anyone! Their task for the final round was to get five people to text their number again, or to bring ten strangers to the Advanced Cellular booth.

With the contestants out of sight, it was time to hobble my way to the shuttle bus. The arch of my left foot was killing me, and I was not putting one more mile into my shoes for the day.

When I arrived back to the booth, the players had come and gone. Ang won the grand prize while I believe Aaron and Susan both walked away with wireless bluetooth headsets. And me? The burning in my calves was reward enough.

The game was a fantastic time, and more people should have come out to play. But no matter. We experienced Grand Old Day in a brand new way. Perhaps next time, more people will be inclined to join in the fun and prizes.

Thanks again to Advanced Cellular for sponsoring such a fun game, and to Grand Old Day for being, well, grand. Least Dangerous Game will be back on June 16th! Grab your friends, and let’s everybody have a good time!