Lynne Conner

As a Rockford native, I’m pretty familiar with local attractions and historically significant landmarks around town.

However, a recent adventure through downtown Rockford using the Let’s Roam City Scavenger Hunt app gave me a fresh perspective and a deeper appreciation of the place I call home.  

Co-founded in 2016 by Charlie Harding, the Let’s Roam app helps users “embark on unforgettable scavenger hunts and create lasting memories in cities worldwide.”  

The app has several categories of scavenger hunts, including outdoor activities, indoor games, team building and special events. Users can “host” a hunt/adventure for occasions like a date night, office team building, family night, birthday party, bar crawl or bachelor/bachelorette party. 

While the Let’s Roam scavenger hunts are marketed as group activities aimed at relationship building, doing a hunt as a single player is also an option. Single players or transplanted families could use the app to familiarize themselves with the offerings of a new city after a move.  

Once you’ve downloaded the app on your phone and created an avatar, you can purchase tickets by tapping the drop-down menu in the upper left corner.  

I suggest buying tickets through your phone rather than a desktop computer, so they are easily accessible. Additionally, you’ll need your phone to check in and progress through the stops on the scavenger hunt.  

The search bar on the app can connect you to hunts in your local area, a neighboring town or a city you are visiting on vacation. After selecting the scavenger hunt of your choice and purchasing tickets, which cost around $12, you are ready to invite people to your group or start the hunt yourself.  

The Coronado Arts Center is among stops on a Let’s Roam City Scavenger Hunt app devoted to Rockford.

Once you’ve purchased tickets for a specific calendar date, the app allows you to start the hunt anytime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the selected day. You can also choose your “character” for the hunt, like a youngster, an explorer or a photographer. I chose a photographer as I was documenting the adventure for Chronicle Media.  

My Let’s Roam adventure titled “Rolling Through Rockford” started at the Riverfront Museum Park on North Main Street in downtown Rockford. This complex was the first of nine slated stops on the adventure and is home to the nationally recognized Discovery Center Children’s Museum, the Rockford Art Museum and the Rockford Dance Company.  

Upon arrival, the app has you virtually check-in and presents you with one or two “challenges” to do or answer at that stop.  

Players can complete as many or as few stops as they wish, and the stops don’t have to be done in order. You earn points toward badges in the app if you do the challenge or answer the question correctly.  

I was all set to provide an astute answer for the trivia challenge about the Riverfront Museum Park, a Sears department store back in the day. My question was easier than expected and pertained to a sculpture out front. After answering correctly and snapping photos, I got points for the challenges and moved on to my next check-in. 

My second stop on the Rolling Through Rockford hunt was across the parking lot from the Riverfront Museum Park at the former Illinois National Guard Armory. After serving as a headquarters for local National Guard units, the building became a music venue in the 1970s where ZZ Top, REO Speedwagon and KISS performed.  

My fondest memories of the Armory are from the late 1980s when I attended two City-Wide Military Balls with my then-high school boyfriend, who was in our school’s Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program. Though the 88-year-old building is in severe disrepair, the Rockford Area Arts Council recently announced plans to redevelop the structure. 

Stops three and four on the tour took me to a couple of historic downtown Rockford gems, the Coronado Performing Arts Center and Beattie Park.  

The River Front Museum Park Complex

The Coronado PAC is a 2,400-seat entertainment venue that opened in 1927 and features an atmospheric-style ceiling complete with rolling clouds and twinkling stars. The theater’s Italian, Spanish and Japanese-inspired décor sets a stunning backdrop for famous performers past and present. Though I’ve attended numerous performances at the Coronado, none was more captivating than seeing the 1977 feature “Pete’s Dragon”  

Beattie Park is a small but significant downtown green space within walking distance of the Coronado PAC. My Let’s Roam challenge at Beattie Park was to identify the shape of a prominent “hill” in the park.  

The Illinois National Guard Armory

Though I already knew the significance of Beattie Park’s “hills,” visitors may be surprised to learn that these “hills” are Native American burial mounds constructed between 700-1100 A.D. The park has four mounds: two with a conical shape, one with a linear shape, and one with an effigy (animal-shaped) mound.  

The Beattie Park mounds are federally protected and the only public land in Illinois where all three types of Native American burial mounds can be seen.  

My last challenge took me to Water Street on the east side of the Rock River and Joe Marino Park. A statue of Marino greets park visitors and explains his contributions to the Rockford community. Ask anyone in town, and they’ll tell you that the one name synonymous with Independence Day is Joe Marino.  

Nicknamed “Mr. Fourth of July,” Marino was, as a plaque by his statue states, “A lifelong Rockford resident and beloved civic leader who championed community celebrations and festivals for half a century. His leadership inspired generations of local children and adults to enthusiastically embrace their American values of love, honor and service to their city, country and families.” 

Throughout my childhood, Marino was a staple of every Independence Day parade and community prayer breakfast. He built and cultivated Rockford’s Fourth of July festivities into our present-day extravaganza and his contributions live on for all to enjoy.  

A statue of Joe Marino, known as Rockford’s “Mr. Fourth of July’, near the Rock River

After completing five of the nine Rolling Through Rockford scavenger hunt stops and each site’s corresponding challenges, I headed home with a renewed sense of pride in my hometown. Undeserved or not, Rockford often gets a bad rap in the media, and many of us have forgotten the uniqueness of our city.  

As I explored these diverse and eclectic sites around town, I thought about my family, a small part of Rockford’s immigrant population, whose hard work, ingenuity, faithfulness and perseverance gave us a community to cherish.  

Our lifelong challenge lies in learning from the past, capitalizing on the present and excelling in the future. Will adventurers, curious tourists and residents roam through Rockford years from now, discovering the indelible footprints we have left? Only time will tell.