Families invited to join ornament hunt

Christmas ornaments are missing from the Butler County University of Missouri Extension Office, 614 Lindsay Ave., in Poplar Bluff.

“Truman, the Missouri Tiger, is up to his mischievous ways and has taken our Mizzou decorations and hid them across the county,” said John Fuller, MSW, extension human development and family sciences specialist. “We have an activity that is going on in the office across Butler County.”

Fuller and his coworkers are asking, “we need people’s help in locating them.”

Truman has been putting pictures and clues on the extension Facebook site of where the ornaments are located.

“We are asking people to look for them,” Fuller said. “We are asking when they find the decoration to post where they found them and a picture with them and use the hashtag #ButlerTruman. There are 12 of them and they are not all in Poplar Bluff.”

Fuller said, Truman overheard the extension crew talking about serving the whole county and they wanted an activity that leaves a stamp on the county.

Fuller and his coworkers’ “goal is to provide an activity with families and maybe increase traffic to some of our local businesses and community buildings in our county. Plus, we want to provide an opportunity for people to visit a place they may not normally go to or have a reason while they help us find these ornaments.

“My kids love looking for elf on a shelf. I know other kids do to and thought with school about to be out, it could be a fun daytime activity. Some of the ornaments are in locations that can be found in the evening.”

Truman, being a mascot, has a tendency to be mischievous. He decided to hide the ornaments in plain sight, Fuller said. Plus, Truman likes to watch people have fun.

Fuller and his coworkers would like to return the ornaments back to the office tree.

“Our office closes on Dec. 24 and won’t reopen until Jan. 3,” Fuller said. “As you can see, we do not have much time and need the help of our kiddos in the county to help us find them. Right now, Truman is the only Mizzou decoration on it. That rascal is trying to keep it that way.”

Truman started “posting clues throughout last week on our Facebook site, https://www.facebook.com/muextensionbutlerco,” Fuller said. “So, people can like us on Facebook and tag us when they take a picture telling us where they found them and use the hashtag #ButlerTruman.”