GISHWHES

A handful of Tahsis residents were recently involved in an internet phenomenon called GISHWHES, which stands for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen.  Worldwide, thousands of participants, called Gishers, spent a week madly racing around creating unusual works of art and performing random acts of kindness.  Gishers pay to register in the hunt and form online teams, raising money for the charity Random Acts.  The list of items to create is over 200 lines long.

From the GISHWHES website: 
"The Items are “captured” as videos or images and uploaded to this website to memorialize the annual Gishwhes experience and to supply the judges with something to judge. The more sublime and creative a submission, the more points awarded. Items range from the sweet and touching, “perform a sock puppet show at a children’s hospital” to the weirdly sublime, “a fully dressed storm trooper cleaning a pool next to a sunbather,” to the absolutely impossible, “get the word “gishwhes” written on something in space” (a team actually pulled this off!). You don’t need to be an amazing artist or social butterfly to win. You just need dedication, drive, a little creative thinking and a will to win.

We try to create a list that is challenging, thrilling and absurd. We like to see items that make us tear-up and laugh out loud. We like to have participants break out of their comfort zones, re-awaken their inner artist, and do a bit of good in the world."

One item on the list this year was Item #23 IMAGE:  Tour a wastewater/sewage treatment factory dressed in formal attire, with an accompanying violinist or flutist." for 82 points.

This might seem impossible in a larger town or city.  In Tahsis it took 2 phone calls to arrange; one to village employee Corky, and one to local Twang Gang member Stephanie.  Easy!  

This is the team photo of Andrea, our local Gisher.  Her mustachioed teammates (ITEM #34) are from various places such as Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Victoria BC, Norway and Australia.  Way to go, Andie, keeping Tahsis part of the weird and wonderful global village!