Treasure hunt across Wenatchee Valley leads to new card, collectibles show

For more than three months, trading card packs and collectibles have been hidden throughout the Wenatchee Valley as part of "Squatch Drop," a daily treasure hunt promoting Card Mania, a new collectibles show set to debut in Wenatchee.

The event is organized by Shawn Cummins, a local Wenatchee card collector, who is bringing Card Mania to the Wenatchee Convention Center, May 30 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, with early VIP access.

Cummins says the card show is built for anyone, from collectors to kids, families, and players.

"The hobby is for everyone, kids to grown adults," he said. "Whatever your scale of enjoyment is, it'll be there for you."

For those collectors, the event will feature more than 100 vendor tables, local and from the Pacific Northwest, with opportunities to buy, sell, or trade, including sports cards, Pokémon, One Piece, Magic: The Gathering, Dragon Ball and more.

But for Cummins, the idea for Card Mania started close to home.

Cummins said the inspiration came after he took his 10-year-old daughter, Melissa, to a card show on the west side of the state while traveling with his family.

"She just lit up," he said. "It was like her love language, like she just exploded."

He said watching her reaction made him realize there wasn't anything similar in the Wenatchee Valley - and that his background in event planning and marketing gave him the tools to try to change that.

"I'm like, OK, there's something different about these events," Cummins said. "Why isn't there one in Wenatchee?"

From there, Cummins began reaching out to local card shops and event organizers, who encouraged him to take on the project himself. What started as a family conversation soon turned into a full-scale community event, backed by local businesses and collectors.

Cummins said he began researching similar card shows in Seattle and Spokane to understand what it would take to bring one to Wenatchee. That process quickly grew into securing a venue, lining up insurance and security, and building a budget he said would ultimately exceed $10,000.

He also began working to secure vendors across the Pacific Northwest, aiming for a large mix of local sellers and regional collectors to fill more than 100 tables at the event.

"It's really, really expensive to put this on," he said.

Even with the costs, Cummins said the goal was never to turn a profit. Instead, he said he wanted to break even and build something that could grow into a recurring community event.

"Just me as a community organizer, no shop, no payroll of anyone, just to say, let's try to break even," he said.

Tickets are $5 for adults or $10 for early VIP access at 9 a.m. Kids 13 years or younger get in for free.

To build excitement and anticipation leading up to the event, Cummins started a 100-day treasure hunt, which he calls "The Squatchdrop Treasure Hunt," consisting of daily hidden packs, collectables and prizes placed throughout the Wenatchee Valley that are recorded and posted on Instagram and Facebook.

"I did Sasquatch as the guy, because we're in the PNW," he said. "Instead of paying for Facebook ads, we decided to do a 100-day treasure hunt through Wenatchee Valley."

So far, Cummins has generated local engagement with the treasure hunting, surpassing 250,000 views and more than 2,500 followers on Instagram.

The campaign has helped build momentum for Card Mania while also turning the lead-up to the event into a community-wide activity.

Cummins said the goal of both the treasure hunt and the upcoming show is to create something that brings people together in the Wenatchee Valley, whether they are longtime collectors or families discovering the hobby for the first time.

"At the end of the day, it's all cardboard. It's all shiny cardboard with little pictures on it," he said. "The hobby is for everyone, kids to grown adults."

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This story was originally published May 25, 2026 at 12:31 PM.