On a weekend where the community of Neepawa was holding a Parade of Lights, huge Craft Sale, and several opportunities to meet Santa, one of the most anticipated events was actually the new puzzle competition sponsored by Hid’n Hollow and Ravensburger.

Belinda Critchlow and husband Daryl opened Hid’n Hollow a year ago, a “Kid’s Store and More” that is the first of its kind in Neepawa. Critchlow says they’ve received a tremendous amount of support from the community, and the recently completed mural over the entirety of their storefront by local artists Katy Martin and Meghan Peters has really gotten them some attention.

Puzzle competitions have been cropping up all over the world in recent years, and when toy company Ravensburger, who also sponsors the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship, reached out to local retailers to say they would be willing to sponsor local competitions of up to 30 teams, Critchlow jumped at the chance. She thought it would be a great opportunity for local families to participate in an activity together, but she didn’t realise that the interest would go far beyond that. Teams signed up for the competition from as far away as Morden, an over-two-hour drive from Neepawa.

Families were still in the spotlight, however, and after two hours of competition, it was largely young people who were claiming prizes in both the team category and even in the pairs category, consisting of product from the Ravensburger puzzle line.

Hid’n Hollow partnered with ArtsForward on the event, which both served as venue and also helped with advertising and online registrations. Critchlow says she went to ArtsForward with the idea right away, feeling they were the ideal partner for this kind of community event, and was pleased when ArtsForward administrator Heidi Nugent was just as enthusiastic about the event as she was.

Ultimately twenty-two teams competed, which was the maximum the facility could hold, and all teams got to keep the puzzle they were given to compete with regardless of where they placed.