TAVARES — Call it a treasure hunt wrapped in a quest to encourage good deeds, bundled with a desire to bring positive vibes to downtown Tavares.
“There are a lot of layers and components to the idea, but it’s really simple at its core,” said Kevin Danko, who created the initiative dubbed Pay it Forward with his fiancé, Cierra Chappell. “The real goal is to start conversations about downtown and to bring people downtown.”
The campaign launched July 9 with pledges of free menu items by participating restaurants who in turn ask recipients who find their hidden greeting card-sized Pay it Forward tickets at shops and businesses to do a good deed in return.
Nearly two dozen restaurants, shops and businesses are participating. So far, 13 Pay it Forward tickets have been hidden in shops with just a handful redeemed. Each restaurant “gifted” four tickets to different shops and a total of 40 eventually were to be hidden.