Round one of a new, weekly scavenger hunt across Yellowknife, hosted by the NWT Diamond Centre, kicks off on Friday. The winners get free jewellery.
Every week for the next three months, the centre will hide a blue, diamond-shaped card somewhere in the city. Clues will be released in the Yellowknifer newspaper and on Moose FM.
Whoever finds each card can bring it to the centre and claim their jewellery.
“How exciting is that?” laughed Patricia Caffet, the store’s director.
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Patricia Caffet, director of the NWT Diamond Centre in Yellowknife. Meaghan Brackenbury/Cabin Radio
The centre is partly a museum of Canadian diamond-mining history and partly a jewellery retailer.
The scavenger hunt is designed to let residents know the centre has jewellery for sale alongside its better-known heritage displays.
“I’m hoping that people realize we are here and we offer them this beautiful product,” Caffet said, “and instead of flying out of town or ordering online, they’ll actually stop in before they choose that second option.”
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According to Caffet, about 90 percent of the centre’s business comes from tourists coming to learn more about the mines. With the territory closed to tourists because of the Covid-19 pandemic, sales have taken a big hit.
Caffet said shopping local for diamonds has never been more important.
“I need the community, I need the whole territory to realize we’re here,” she said.
“We’re supplying those stores [people are] going to. We’re like your Costco… this is wholesale, and you’re not going to get it for any less anywhere else.
“I don’t know how I can make it clearer. You’re crazy to shop anywhere else.”
Diamonds on display at the NWT Diamond Centre. Meaghan Brackenbury/Cabin Radio
Once the scavenger hunt begins, Caffet warned, people shouldn’t too invasive with their searching.
“Nothing will be hidden where you have to take something apart,” she said. “I don’t want anybody going crazy and ripping areas apart, because it’s not going to be hidden that hard.”
