The Downtown Holyoke Quest focuses on the city’s central canal system, historic Opera House and brick mill buildings, and the Children’s Museum.
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A passerby enjoys a view of the Holyoke canals behind the Volleyball Hall of Fame. (The Repubilcan file photo).Area residents are encouraged to get outdoors this winter and learn a bit more about their communities through The Trustees of Reservations’ “Quest Detective” program. The 12 unique quests located all over Massachusetts, including one right here in downtown Holyoke, encourage exploration of unique places in the Bay State.
The Holyoke “quest” was created with a Trustees educator and kids from the Holyoke Boys and Girls Club five years ago. The quest adventures are modeled on “Valley Quest,” an award-winning education program developed in Vermont to engage children and adults in discovering, and caring for, special places.
Quest detectives can download the hand-drawn map off The Trustees’ website, according to Kate Preissler, engagement manager of the Western Region for The Trustees.
“It takes you around the streets of downtown Holyoke,” she said. “It talks about the history, and what’s going on today. It’s a nice way for residents to get to know their town a little better.”
The Downtown Holyoke Quest focuses on the city’s central canal system, historic Opera House and brick mill buildings, and the Children’s Museum.
Questing is a kind of combination of the popular activities of geocaching and letterboxing.
“It integrates this idea that a community is telling its own stories,” Preissler said. “It’s about the process from beginning to end…creating it and then going on the quest.”
As questers explore, the process is a bit like a treasure hunt. Treasures included in a quest might be a natural site, such as a wetland or town forest, or a cultural site, such as an abandoned mill or historic cemetery.
“Some are big and obvious, and some are smaller,” Preissler said of the landmarks. “It could be a particular fence or a building that has kind of an interesting history to it. You can get an idea of how the landscape used to look.”
While questers are having fun, they’re also learning. The map is accompanied by a narrative poem with clues embedded in it to aid questers in their search.
Participants can stamp a special quest booklet when they finish one of The Trustees’ quests.
“We’re hoping you might be inspired to explore outside of your town,” Preissler said. “We think it’s a great thing for kids and adults to do together.”
Holyoke residents both old and new might just learn something too.
“Apart from learning things about Holyoke, the ultimate hope is that you gain a better appreciation of where you live,” Preissler said. “You can get a sense of pride, you can feel like you know the place better, and you feel like you’re part of history.”
With a renewed focus and energy on bettering downtown Holyoke, now is a perfect time to go on the Downtown Holyoke Quest.
“It’s a good time to look back and reflect and feel like you’re a part of it,” she said. “That appreciation piece is what it’s all about.”
Other area Trustees quests include those at Peaked Mountain in Monson, one in Stockbridge and another coming this spring to the Bryant Homestead in Cummington.
Quest booklets for the whole state can be picked up in The Trustees’ Holyoke office at 193 High Street between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays, or at other times by special request. For more information, call 413-532-1631 ext. 10, or visit http://www.thetrustees.org/things-to-do/special-events/questdetective/