San Luis Obispo Parks & Recreation hosted the Leprechaun Lost event on March 12, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Higuera St. and Broad St. The event featured vendors, including local small businesses and farmers selling vegetables and other edible goods.

“It’s a fun-time event, feel good and luck of the Irish, everyone seems happy about it, and it’s a fun event to do,” Recreation Supervisor Chris Woods said. 

The event required a lot of planning and many helping hands. Cal Poly Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration (RTPA) class contacted local vendors, acquired games and prizes, and planned the event wholly.

“For us, it’s been nice, we [look on] Amazon and order a lot of prizes. [Past RTPA students] already had the table tent lights, so we just ordered new prizes on Amazon,” Cal Poly Student Volunteer Lucie Ehirch said.

At the event, kids were given a quest to find leprechaun volunteers who were placed around the street. The children’s goal was to find each leprechaun and get stamps on a leprechaun-provided piece of paper to prove their findings. On top of finding leprechauns, children were given lucky gold coins as an extra achievement that they could give at the leprechaun-themed booth to receive a special prize that could be a leprechaun-themed gift basket or coupons for a free pizza. 

“There’s a scavenger hunt and riddles to find the lucky leprechaun, but they stand out and are dressed differently from the other leprechauns. When found, they give [kids] a lucky coin to get the big prizes, like a pizza coupon,” said Ehrach. 

Alongside the leprechaun and Saint Patrick’s Day-inspired event, booths were set up on both streets, where visitors could buy food like barbecue, sweets, and other goodies.

“The event has been going on for as long as I’ve been here [and before], and I’ve been with the city for 11 years,” Woods said. 

Around 9 p.m., the leprechaun-themed booth gave out the remaining prizes and wished everyone an early “happy St. Patrick’s Day.”