Storm Lake Woman Finds Golden Egg, Wins $1,000 Furniture Prize

After years of near-misses and a final-day sprint through Frank Starr Park, Mylea Strand reached into a tangle of leaves and rocks at the south end of the park's inlet and pulled out exactly what she and her Zimmy's co-workers had been chasing: the golden egg.

Strand's discovery on Monday capped Carey's Furniture's 2026 Great Easter Egg Hunt, a multi-day community scavenger hunt that stretched across Storm Lake's city limits and kept residents refreshing clue updates on Carey's website and social channels each morning. The grand prize waiting at the end was $1,000 in furniture.

The win was a coordinated effort from the start. Strand had assembled a team of co-workers from Zimmy's, and on the final day they worked the park systematically, texting each other and splitting up to cover more ground. When Strand spotted the egg tucked beneath the leaves, the moment hit her all at once. She "was like, no way!" she wrote of the discovery.

The hunt's organizers kept tension high through deliberately cryptic clue language. One phrase that circulated among participants, "N of News," directed searchers to the north side of the lake, sending competing teams scrambling to decode geography through wordplay. The puzzle format, with fresh clues dropping daily, gave participants reason to compare notes and stay engaged throughout the week.

Carey's Great Easter Egg Hunt is free to enter and open to the public. Organizers and immediate family members of sponsoring-store employees are not eligible to win. Previous years' near-misses made the 2026 victory especially meaningful for Strand's group; this time, the clue led them directly to Frank Starr Park, and they didn't let it slip away.