"We want the $250," Gordon said, referring to the cash prize promised to the contest winners. "We'll split it in half."
The friends said they already had identified two of the images. Wagner pointed to number six on the image sheet, a blue and white figure that appeared to show fragments of the elongated letters C, O and L with icy caps.
"This must be on an ice cream truck or something cool," Wagner said. "I have no idea what the other things are, and I'm not sure we'll have the patience to match them all."
Janessa Scott, 24, Frank Larrazabal, 21, and Sheila Scott, 39, all of Hagerstown, stopped cold on a sewer cover, recognizing a portion of it from one of the contest images. The team of three, toting along Janessa Scott and Frank Larrazabal's three children, had discovered five of the objects in 10 minutes.
"It's a fun, family kind of thing, looking for things, trying to find out where they are and working together," Larrazabal said.
Tim Saunders, owner of Tim's Tax Service in Sharpsburg, came up with the idea to sponsor the retirement home's landmark search along with his wife, Tina, a nurse at Fahrney-Keedy. Tina Saunders was a runner-up in The Herald-Mail's 2007 Landmarks contest.
"We enjoyed it immensely," Tim Saunders said, so his wife organized a similar contest for the retirement home's summer festival. The contest had 40 participants.
Wesley Pifer won the grand prize in the contest, while Chad Love took second place and Jennie May finished third.
The festival also offered arts, crafts and food vendors, a petting zoo, a car show, a magic show and numerous children's activities, including a barrel train ride and water games.
Sandy Melton, 39, of Hagerstown, took her children, Quinn, 5, Zane, 3, and Kade, 1, to the festival.
"We come every year," Melton said. "It's just fun in the sun."
Festival chairwoman Kelli Lichtenberg said more than 500 people attended.
"We've had a great turnout this year," she said.
Fahrney-Keedy provides independent and assisted-living services and nursing care. Lichtenberg said proceeds from the festival, projected to be more than $3,000, would benefit the community's benevolent fund.
"It will help residents who can no longer afford to pay for their own room and board, while we raise community awareness about our facility," Lichtenberg said.
