2022 Best of Santa Barbara® Scavenger Hunt

Note: The deadline to register for the Best of Santa Barbara® Scavenger Hunt has passed.

Our annual Best of Santa Barbara® issue is publishing October 20, and we’re ready to celebrate! We’re bringing back our family-friendly DIY adventure to celebrate the Winners & Runners Up of the 2022 Best Of Santa Barbara® Readers’ Poll – the Best of Santa Barbara® scavenger hunt!

The Best of Santa Barbara® Scavenger Hunt – presented by Downtown Santa Barbara – will take place from Saturday, October 22 at 9 a.m. – Sunday, October 23 at 8 p.m. We invite you to put your Santa Barbara knowledge to the test. You’ll have 35 hours to solve as many of the 35 clues as you can. And if the thrill of solving clues isn’t enough of an incentive to join in on the fun, the winning team will win a $1,000 cash prize. The second place team will win a pizza party worth up to $135 at Rusty’s Pizza.

The winning teams will be announced and awarded their prizes at Downtown Santa Barbara’s “ROCK THE BLOCK”, a street party series highlighting the best of Downtown Santa Barbara, held on October 27 from 5-8pm on the 700-800 blocks of State Street (between Canon Perdido and Ortega Streets).

How it Works:

1. Register your team below – Deadline to Sign Up: Friday, October 21 @ noon
Teams can have up to 4 people, and it costs $30 per team to register. Once you purchase a registration, you will be contacted via email asking you for your team name, the name of your Captain (team leader), and the Captain’s email address (if different than the one used to register) – this email may take a few hours to hit your inbox.

2. Decide on a team name and an object to keep with you throughout the hunt.
This object can be a lucky rabbit’s foot, your favorite issue of the Santa Barbara Independent, or even a banana. Whatever you decide on should be easy enough to carry around, but also recognizable in photos.

3. Know what to expect.
On the morning of Saturday, October 22 all teams will receive the clue packet in their inbox – be sure to check your spam or promotions folder (this email is coming from emily@independent.com). We recommend printing out a copy to take with you on your hunt. Every clue is worth a different amount of points based on the difficulty of the clue. At the end, the team with the most points will win. You do not need to solve every clue. Do as much as you can to earn as many points as possible.

4. Get solving!
As your team solves clues, you’ll be taking photos at the different locations with your team object. Your team object and all but one team player must be present in all photos. Your team must stick together!

5. Submit your answers.
Be sure to save your photos all in one spot, because you will be submitting them to our server by 7:59 p.m. on Sunday. (Instructions will be sent out to all teams on how to do this.)

6. Attend Downtown Santa Barbara’s ROCK THE BLOCK!
Winners will be announced at the Downtown Santa Barbara’s ROCK THE BLOCK on Thursday, October 27, from 5-8pm on the 700-800 blocks of State Street (between Canon Perdido and Ortega Streets). The winning teams will pick up their prizes and get their photo taken, which will be printed in the November 3 print issue of the Santa Barbara Independent.

May the BEST team win!

Questions? Email at emily@independent.com