Shoreline Kids, Moms, Merchants Love "Where's Waldo"

Jack Schroeder, 6 and 3/4 years old, loves "Where's Waldo" because he's hard to find. His sister, Ella, 4, loves him because her favorite colors include red and white.

Those were just a few of the reasons why hundreds of shoreline children, their parents, and merchants came to love the elusive red-and-white-striped guy even more over the month of July. For the past 31 days, more than 200 children tromped through 24 stores in Madison to find a little 6-inch Waldo's hidden in the stores.

The contest was designed to be like the books and other Where's Waldo products that encourage children to search detailed drawings to discover the beloved little guy who's red and white, and read all over, and who was all over town.

Discovering new stores, gaining new customers

Kate Connell, of North Madison, said she loved the Waldo scavenger hunt because she checked out some new stores where she had never shopped before.

"I went to Maggie's and I love the stuff I found there," she said during a Meet Waldo event at R. J. Julia Tuesday evening. "I also discovered Silver moon. They have wonderful things in there."

Will she return to those stores?

"The kids are just fun"

"Oh definitely," she said, adding that her only disappointment was that her granddaughter Zarah Lindquist, 5 1/2 years old, was sometimes a little quick finding the Waldo characters, after which she would be ready to hit the next store. "I wish I had a little more time in each of the stores," Connell said, with a smile.

Merchants loved having the kids, and their parents, in their stores. Joel Stander, the owner of Khaki & Black, nex to R. J. Julia, says he thinks he had about 200 groups of kids and parents stop by as part of the contest. "If they come back, that's cool. If they tell someone else about the store, that's cool," he said. He said he loved having the little children in the store. "The kids are just fun," he said.

Brody Manemeit, 5, and his brother Tyler, 10, have been Waldo fans for years. They loved getting ice cream at the celebration Tuesday night, and getting their paper signed by Waldo.

Next up? BrainQuest on Wednesday!

Jay Finney, from Atlanta, GA, and Charles Boltas, from Irvine, TX, also were thrilled to see Waldo there and to get their picture taken with him. And then they got busy planning for another event at R.J. Julia planned for Wednesday, August 1, the BrainQuest 20th Anniversary Tour.

Participants at the event, at 4 p.m. at the store, which is located at 768 Boston Post Road in Madison, will be able to answer questions in an contest that will be much like a spelling bee. Finney and Boltas said there will be prizes, and a chance for older students to enter a drawing for a contest that has prizes that include a $20,000 scholarship.

For more information, check out the video with this story or go directly to the R.J. Julia website where you can read more and sign up for the event.