Treasure hunt gets moving

WITH the aim of getting Ballarat active post-lockdown, Erin Harris from Zumba Ballarat organised a treasure hunt around town with winners finding free passes to her classes.

Although this isn’t the first year for The Great Zumba Treasure Hunt, Ms Harris said this year was particularly important to raise spirits and involvement after such a challenging year.

“It was an idea I came up with a couple of years ago, the original idea was to pout a few free classes on some community notice boards but I thought that could be a bit boring,” she said.

“I then came up with the idea of hiding them at well-known locations that people are familiar with.

“I did continue with online classes during lockdown but it’s just not the same… you don’t realise how much you do miss the face-to-face connection until you haven’t had it, it was really important to get our little community back together.”

With the treasure hunt having taken place from 4 January to 10 January, Ms Harris posted clues on the whereabouts of the free passes each morning to her social media accounts.

She said the treasure hunts are always a great way for people who have never tried the classes to get involved.

“It’s always a hit, it’s fun for everyone trying to find them and I get a lot of comments from people asking if it’s been found so I try to update when it has been found so no one’s out looking still.

“A lot of people struggled with mental health during the lockdown period, so getting out again and socialising and getting the endorphins going is really important.

“I like for people to just come and actually just have fun, and not treat it as a chore or something to strictly lose weight but to have fun and the benefits will come.”

To join a Zumba class or learn more, visit Zumba Ballarat With Erin on Instagram.