Hundreds will gather in Williamsburg this weekend to solve riddles and puzzles as they navigate the city during the third annual Great Williamsburg Adventure Race.
The event involves teams working together on scavenger-type challenges for prizes and a winning title. Richmond-based AVAdventure Productions created and hosts the event. The organization creates interactive programming for schools, nonprofits and businesses. Last year’s event attracted about 400 participants of all ages.
There are already hundreds signed up this year, according to AVAdventure Productions co-founder Adam Stackhouse.
“People really like the challenges the most,” Stackhouse said. “In the past we’ve had puzzles and a photo challenge. But people really like going to locations and doing unique challenges, so we’ve doubled down on that. There will be a whole bunch of that this year.”
The company partnered with the City of Williamsburg seven years ago to create welcoming events for College of William and Mary students, Stackhouse said. For the first four years, AVAdventure created live, “theatre-meets-audio” tours, which featured actors in the streets. But for the past three years, the company has hosted the Great Williamsburg Adventure Race, which is sponsored by the city and part of William and Mary’s family weekend.
“It’s definitely grown — the scope of the race itself,” Stackhouse said. “This year, we have more challenge stations than the past two years combined.”
During the three-hour event, teams of two to four people must visit different businesses throughout the city to obtain their challenges. The teams can decide the order of places to visit and whether or not to complete a challenge. The winner will be the team that completes the most amount of challenges by 6 p.m. Participants will walk roughly 3 miles throughout the event, Stackhouse said.
The race will begin at the Williamsburg Community Building, 401 N. Boundary St. Check-in is at 1:30 p.m. and the race will begin at 3 p.m.
Registration for the event is still open, and can be done at theavadventure.com/williamsburgadventurerace. Tickets are $30 a person and free for William and Mary students.
Smith can be reached by phone at 757-510-1663 or on Twitter @hillarysmith21.
