ARLINGTON — Families prepared for school while acquainting themselves with Arlington’s downtown merchants during the Aug. 30 “Back to School Scavenger Hunt,” sponsored by the Downtown Arlington Business Association.

The hunt started at 10:30 a.m. and was open to all school-age children, each of whom received a prize for participating.

Each of the two-dozen merchants participating in the hunt displayed a picture of a school bus in their windows, and all of them dispensed special check-lists, printed to look like backpacks, of all the participating merchants.

Nola Smith, owner of the School Box on Olympic Avenue, explained that every participating business had an apple inside, which children were required to find in order to receive a sticker from that merchant. Every child who filled up his or her card with stickers then went to the School Box to receive their prize.

The prizes were school supplies, including rulers displaying all of the American presidents to date, and the first five children to turn in their completed cards received “grand prizes” of up to $25 in value. The grand-prize winners this year were Wilson Glaze, Amari Garrissey, Cody and Katelyn Chrisman, and Abigail Rose Martin.

“It’s our first annual kick-off of the scavenger hunt,” Smith said. “It’s a great opportunity for kids to meet the merchants and receive prizes to get themselves ready for school.”

The Local Scoop followed the scavenger hunt with an arm-wrestling contest at 2 p.m. While they weren’t able to attract any competitors among their patrons, the wait staff put on an impressive show of their own, as Christina Baker beat Lenora Fenstermaker, and owner Bev Angerbauer defeated Jess Maher. In the final round, Angerbauer won a decisive victory over Baker.