Those people in the Albany/Clinton County area and surrounding areas as well who like to search for hidden treasure, get ready. The annual Treasure Hunt, a sidebar event to the popular Christmas at Home food and toy drive, is set to kick off this Saturday, December 1.

With a one-year break due to illness of the event coordinator, the Treasure Hunt will be in its eighth season, with a host of treasure seekers looking for that one hidden prize that is worth up to $2,000 or more–a great deal of that being in cash.

The event will begin Saturday morning at WANY Radio Station, with an appearance from Santa Claus between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Also, treasure hunters should be listing to WANY 100.9 FM at 10:30 a.m. that morning for further information on the hunt.

Pam Allred, owner of WANY and organizer of the annual popular game, said a list of treasure hunt rules would also be available to be picked up at the station beginning Saturday morning.

The only persons not eligible to claim the grand prize (or any prize given) is WANY employees and their immediate families. Also, no one person can claim the grand prize in two consecutive years.

As always, there are guidelines on where the winning treasure piece will be hidden and it will not be on residential property (homes), churches, school property, cemeteries or on funeral home property. Treasure hunters are asked not to search in any of those areas due to privacy concerns.

The key to finding the location of the hidden treasure will be to follow the clues, one of which will be posted at each participating business Monday through Saturday of each week. Persons participating in the hunt should get the clues on a daily basis from that day’s business location.

A different clue will be posted at a different downtown business each day until the treasure is found and will remain posted until the hunt is over. People searching will need to go to that business to get the actual clue as they will not be given out over the phone.

For persons who miss a clue or clues during the week, on Fridays at 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., a list of the business places that have clues will be listed once again on the radio station to help treasure hunters stay caught up.

Allred asks that treasure hunters remember that the hunt is a game only, meant for the enjoyment of those who participate and further reminds hunters that the treasure for the grand prize will not be hidden in a location that would cause danger to hunters or damage to property. She asks that all treasure hunters be respectful to property and other treasure seekers.

As always, there will be several smaller prizes donated by several participating businesses in the area and when one of those are found, treasure hunters can take it to the radio station and draw from a box to see what they have won.

The exact item of what people will be looking for to claim other prizes other than the grand prize, as well as the “theme” of this year’s hunt will be announced on WANY at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Several local merchants take part in the pre-Christmas event each year, with Allred estimating approximately 50 businesses annually. She is somewhat reluctant, however, to give a specific estimate this year due to the economic climate.

A listing of all participating sponsors for the Treasure Hunt, as well as other information about the event, will be published in next week’s Clinton County News.

As a reminder for the Christmas at Home program itself, churches participating in food collection are asked to have all food collected by December 9 and turned in to City Hall or WANY by Monday, December 10. Also, persons donating new toys for the drive are asked to have them turned in at drop-off locations by Saturday, December 15 so volunteers who box those items for delivery will have time to do their work prior to Christmas.