Dad’s hunch paid off.
After picking up his son, six-year-old Grade 1 Beairsto Elementary student Ollie Gombik on Friday, May 17, dad Casey Gombik decided to start the holiday long weekend with some sweets.
The father-son pair stopped at Printech, in downtown Vernon, to buy some Valley Vonka chocolate bars (made by Cotton’s Chocolate’s a block south).
The Vonka bars are used in The Morning Star’s second annual Valley Vonka and the Hot Chocolates Factory contest, where inside five of the bars are golden tickets (as in the original book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl), worth some major prizes.
As of Friday, there were two golden tickets to be found.
That is, until the Gombiks purchased some bars.
“Dad picked this one because it had a big bump,” said Ollie, who opened the bar and discovered the fourth golden ticket in this year’s event.
“He said, ‘Here daddy, you take the ticket, I want the chocolate bar,’” laughed Casey, who quickly called his wife and also alerted Ollie’s big brother, Frank, nine, of the golden ticket discovery.
The Gombiks are now eligible for the finale of the contest, where nearly $6,400 in prizes will be awarded to the five lucky ticket finders.
With one ticket remaining to be found (as of Tuesday, May 21) the May 17 deadline has been extended.
“Solve the mystery and help us find the last golden ticket,” said Keith Currie, Morning Star publisher. “There are still a few bars out there and one of them contains a golden ticket that has not been found yet.”
The Morning Star contest has chocolate bars available at the newspaper office, FreshCo, Vernon Nissan, Canadian Tire and Printech. The bars are a minimum $5, which is donated to Jumpstart and remains locally to help more kids get in the game.
Valley Vonka and the Hot Chocolates Factory is a contest playing on the hit Willy Wonka film, where five golden tickets are hidden in chocolate bars and those who find them win a tour of the chocolate factory.
Only instead of a tour, the winners of Valley Vonka get one of five prizes:
• $1,500 Towne Theatre movie package
• $1,500 Spallumcheen Golf & Country Club passes
• $1,500 World Health or Ladies World gym membership
• $1,500 FreshCo gift certificate
• Canadian Tire patio egg swing chair ($580 value)
The prizes will be awarded at a special evening in early June (date TBA), and will also include a showing of the 2005 Hollywood film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.
READ MORE: Vernon teen finds 2nd Valley Vonka golden ticket
READ MORE: VIDEO: Vernon youth unwraps first Valley Vonka golden ticket
