The Great Park Pursuit Concludes for 2008

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NGPC news release, 10/28/08:

LINCOLN, Neb. – For the Tesarek family of Plattsmouth, there is no place like Nebraska. The Great Park Pursuit was proof of it.

The Tesareks were one of five teams to win grand prizes in The Great Park Pursuit’s inaugural 2008 season, according to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

The Great Park Pursuit encourages active lifestyles, via outdoor activities in the state’s parks, while increasing awareness of the nature-rich outdoor recreation opportunities throughout Nebraska.

The Tesareks, including mother Karen, father Douglas, daughter Andrea, and son Hunter, took a trip this summer that included stops in Nebraska and South Dakota. During that trip they stopped at all 10 Nebraska parks required in The Great Park Pursuit in four days.

“We finished the contest in Hastings on a Sunday night and it was getting kind of dark,” Karen Tesarek said. “When we got back to the van, our 13-year-old, Andrea, said ‘Finding the places was the funnest part of the whole vacation.’ I thought that was really something because, in addition to doing The Great Park Pursuit, we had also taken them to the Black Hills, Wind Cave and Mount Rushmore. But she liked the Pursuit the best.”

The Great Park Pursuit, based on a similar program started in Connecticut which uses it as the centerpiece of its No Child Left Inside initiative, awarded levels of participation in activities with prizes. Each grand-prize winner got to pick one of three packages valued at $1,000 each: canoe/kayak package, camping package, or fishing package.

Program participants had 10 specific state or city parks to visit. At each park they were prompted to find their way to a designated location in that park, where they had to make a pencil tracing of a nature impression that was mounted on a post. They had to mail in the impression cards, reflecting the total number of parks visited. Prizes were awarded based on the number of tracings collected.

The Tesareks were one of 34 teams that visited all 10 parks in the Pursuit. Fifty teams visited at least seven of the 10 parks. The grand-prize winners were selected in a drawing at the annual Nebraska Recreation and Park Association Conference on Sept. 22. Teams that visited at least seven parks were entered in the drawing once. Teams that finished all 10 parks were entered three times.

The teams that won the $1,000 grand-prize packages from Bass Pro Shops, and the prizes they selected, are: The Hiking Hoits, Omaha, kayak; Team Tesarek, Plattsmouth, kayak; All 4 Osborns, Firth, camping; The Pie Eaters, Auburn, camping; and Team Fonck, Lincoln, camping.

In addition, Team Kimminau won a two-night cabin stay at a Nebraska State Park of its choice. Numerous teams received a $25 gift card to Bass Pro Shops for collecting five impressions, while each team visiting all 10 parks received a 2009 State Park Entry Permit.

Tesarek said the kayak will come in handy as the family lives at Beaver Lake, five miles south of Plattsmouth.
All the grand-prize winners will pick up their packages at Bass Pro Shops in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Nov. 1 at 2:30 p.m.

The 10 parks included in The Great Park Pursuit in 2008 were: Steinhart Park, Nebraska City; Chadron State Park (SP); Scottsbluff Riverside Park; Zorinsky Lake Park, Omaha; Smith Falls SP; Yanney Park, Kearney; Eugene T. Mahoney SP; Iron Horse Park, North Platte; Ponca SP; and Lake Hastings Park, Hastings.

Participants for 2008 ranged from single individuals to 17-member teams, coming from 122 communities in Nebraska and eight states.

Bass Pro Shops and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska were corporate sponsors of The Great Park Pursuit, and the Commission and the Nebraska Recreation and Park Association were the founding program coordinators. Outdoor Recreation Products and Landscape Structures were contributing sponsors.

More than anything, The Great Park Pursuit gave the Tesareks lasting memories.

“I was really happy that my husband got to see Niobrara,” Karen said. “I’d been there in 1979, but he had never seen it. I’m glad he got to see how beautiful that area is.”

It also made quite an impression on 10-year-old Hunter.

“I’ve never made a picture book before, but we took pictures at each of the Pursuit sites and of the family doing things in those areas,” Karen said. “Now I have a picture book that’s about 3 inches thick. Hunter likes to look through it before going to bed a night.”

Beginning in May 2009, there will be 15 parks participating in the Pursuit, including city, state and federal parklands throughout Nebraska. Parks include Platte River SP, Bessey Ranger District of the Nebraska National Forest near Halsey, Indian Cave SP, Ash Hollow State Historical Park (SHP), Fort Robinson SP, Calamus State Recreation Area (SRA), the Cowboy Trail near Norfolk, Lewis and Clark Landing in Omaha, Pawnee Park in Columbus, and Walnut Creek Lake and Recreation Area in Papillion. Other cities hosting participating parks are Grand Island, South Sioux City, McCook, Lincoln, and Alliance.

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What an awsome family adventure that would be!