“The team was me, my mom, and my brother,” said Sarah Stackhouse, part of the 2nd-place team, The S Crew.

Stackhouse grew up in the area, attending Parade of Nations events, hosting exchange students, and even walking in the parade with the school’s German club. She hasn’t been back for more than ten years, but this year is working remotely from Copper Country. Her mom saw the PON scavenger hunt advertised, and they were able to jump in on this year’s events.

We just decided it would be fun and we made a weekend of it,” Stackhouse said.

They solved all but one clue in a single weekend. The following Thursday, they found the clue they missed one of the windows of the library.

Dejlah Mezeel pulls down her mask for a moment, showing a big smile as she holds the flag of her home country, Iraq, with Parade of Nations Committee member Donna Cole.

“We looped the library, I don’t know how many times,” Stackhouse admitted.

Their 2nd-place finish earned them a $200 Amazon gift card. First place winners, the Puzzle Lovers led by Zazil Santizo took home a $300 gift card, and 3rd place RAAJ led by Cassy Tefft de Muñoz won a $100 gift card.

Stackhouse said the prize is just a bonus, they were really interested in supporting the community and having fun.

“It was really addicting actually,” she said.

She said she’s grateful that the PON committee took the time to put together an event that blended the local and international communities into something fun, especially with all the extra limitations in place this year.

(left to right) Entertainment Coordinator Deb Mann, Parade Coordinator Cindy Lynse, Community Representative Donna Cole and Volunteer Coordinator Tom Pintar “masked-up” behind the judges table.

“They went through a lot to make it work,” Stackhouse said.

As another way to celebrate, the flags of 84 different countries are currently adorning College Avenue in Houghton and Quincy Drive in Hancock. Some countries are duplicated, for a total of 110 flags. Cindy Lynse said that 62 of those countries are represented on Michigan Technological University’s campus this year, despite the pandemic. She worked from last year’s lists to round out the rest of the flags.

Lynse said the flags will stay up for about a month and be collected in October. She said that, in the absence of normal Parade of Nations festivities, displaying the flags is a good reminder of the international community present in Copper Country, and how diverse the rest of the world is, too.

“There’s a lot of the world that isn’t us,” Lynse said.

One member of that international community, Dejlah Mezeel, participated in the scavenger hunt with the Elaine Bacon Literacy Program’s team. Mezeel is in the United States visiting her daughters, one here in Houghton, and the other in Boston. She said she’s had a good time here, and has met a lot of nice people and enjoyed social activities that she doesn’t in Iraq.

Mezeel is still working on speaking English. While she’s able to converse, her vocabulary is still growing.

“I try to practice, anything social,” she said.