July 1, 2020
The RCU Foundation’s Rock the Riverfront “Rock Hunt” sponsored by Market & Johnson ended on Tuesday, June 23, when Beau Sweitzer and three friends from Chippewa Falls found the “rock” hiding in Farm Progress Park by the Trempealeau County Healthcare Center.
Beau, along with his brother Nevada, and friends Jack and Wyatt Eiden are proving to be expert rock hunters. The four young men caught the rock hunt fever when they found the rock in Owen Park last year and took home the prize along with bragging rights. They were excited to hunt together again this year. They started hunting for the rock on Monday afternoon and spent over three hours looking in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, but had no luck. After seeing Tuesday’s clue they had no new ideas and decided to wait for the bonus clue to be released on Facebook. The bonus clue picture featured a basketball court so the four friends looked for the rock at all the basketball courts in Eau Claire, but didn’t find one that looked like the pictures. They decided that they needed to go to Whitehall since one of the charity partners was located there. While driving up to the park they saw the stone pillars for the first bonus clue and recognized the basketball court from the second; they knew they were in the right park. The rock hunters spent about 30 minutes looking all around the large park. The four friends had decided to split into pairs and have one person follow the other as a way of double checking every area. This strategy proved to be fruitful because one of the friends actually walked past the rock but luckily Beau was walking behind him and spotted the rock under some leaves along the fence of the baseball field in the park.
The four young men plan to split the $500 award evenly. Two of them will use it towards their schooling while the other two have their eyes on some new sunglasses since they are out of school. When talking with Beau about their experience he was excited that his friends had something fun to look forward to this summer since so much has changed. They have truly become rock hunt experts and plan to defend their title again in 2021.
Rock the Riverfront featuring the Charity Classic has been held in downtown Eau Claire’s Phoenix Park for the last 25 years. This year’s walk/run portion of the event has gone virtual with over 380 people registered to run or walk through July 13 on the route of their choosing. Proceeds from the event will go to three partner charities: Family Support Center of Chippewa Falls, National Alliance on Mental Illness Chippewa Valley, and New Horizons Shelter and Outreach Centers in Whitehall.
The RCU Foundation thanks Market & Johnson for sponsoring the Rock Hunt. The 2021 Rock the Riverfront Rock Hunt will start on Monday, June 21, with the run/walk taking place on June 26 in Phoenix Park. More information is available at www.rcu.org/race.