Rockin’ around with the Jingle Bell Rock

Photo credit: KOAA News

By: Vanessa Sturtevant

How are we searching for the Jingle Bell Rock with social distancing in place? This year is the 50th year KPHT 95.5 has put the Jingle Bell Rock Hunt up for grabs, a tradition in Pueblo, Colo., but the first year it’s been during a pandemic. The rock is found before Dec. 24th every year according to KOAA News, and when found a $30,000 prize is available for the lucky people who find it. 

I’ve sat in the car after school many December afternoons, listening to my parents list off the clues to the rock. Often, I’d try to think of places I would hide the rock while at lunch in school. Maybe I was more involved in this little scavenger hunt than my peers, but I felt like Sherlock Holmes any time my parents would tell me “Yeah, I can see that being a place it could be hidden.” Whenever we went to look for it, we’d find other small groups of people searching for the jingle bell rock, so how does that work now? 

The hunt has already begun, and I’ve asked a few people questions about how they think this may go. Emily Brown, junior, answered that she’d “take all precautions. I’d wear a mask and stay away from people.” When asked how social distancing would work, seeing how all of Pueblo, Colo. would be in roughly the same area, she paused before answering. “Depends on the clues you focus on, and where you were. You’d have to find the right time of day to actually search, I guess.” After some thought, she decided she wouldn’t pursue the rock and $30,000 prize. “I’m not old enough to actually cash it in. But I’ll remind my sister. She might look.”

Thomas Brown, freshman, was asked the same questions and had a slightly different outlook. “I think this will go terribly. Some people will ignore social distancing because they just don’t care,” he said. “I’d do it, though. I don’t know how well it would work, though.” I asked if he’d be interested in the hunt. “I’d go, then have my sister cash it in and we’d split the prize.” 
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Most people I’ve come in contact with are choosing to not go out and instead protect people. My question to all of you is would you really risk people’s lives for a prize?