Andover Buddy Hunt

09/06/2026

The regular Buddy Hunt season may be over… but we’re starting to wonder if Freddie has one more hunt in him. 👀🐸

So we need your vote!

If we surprised Andover with an ENCORE HUNT sometime in the next few weeks, what would you want to find?

🎃 A brand-new theme?
⭐ Some of your favorite buddies from this summer?
🌈 A giant mix of everything?
😂 Something completely ridiculous that we haven’t thought of yet?

Tell us in the comments — what should Freddie hide for an encore?

And yes… we’re absolutely reading the answers. 😏

09/05/2026

WOW. Just… wow. 💚
There is honestly no way for us to know how many hundreds of people showed up for the Deep Sea Glow Hunt last night. We knew it was going to be big. We just had no idea it was going to be that big.
But as incredible as the turnout was, that isn't what made last night so special.
It was the stories.
Families helping other families. Kids trading buddies. Kids giving their finds to someone who hadn't found one yet. People re-hiding extras so another hunter could have that moment of discovery. Friends and neighbors helping each other, laughing together and sharing pictures of their finds.
And even hours after the hunt began, there were still families sitting around the square. Talking. Catching up with friends. Spending time together.
That is the Buddy Hunt.
When I started this, there was one very simple philosophy behind it: Put good out there.
I thought we'd hide some silly little 3D-printed buddies, a few people would show up every week, the kids would have fun, and we'd put a little extra happiness into our community.
I could never have imagined what you would turn it into.
Freddie may be the frog everybody sees, but behind that silly little frog is an incredible group of people who have shown up again and again. People who bought supplies from our wish list. People who donated filament. People who printed. People who sponsored hunts. People who helped hide hundreds and hundreds of buddies. People who watched busy areas and even helped us police the occasional scallywag. 😂
And then there is all of you who showed up week after week and believed in a silly little frog with a dream.
At the beginning of the season, Freddie was voted the unofficial mascot of summer and ran on a very ambitious platform:
THE SUMMER OF FUN.
Well, Freddie, I think we did it. 💚
I hope when you look back on this summer, you remember more than what buddy you found. I hope you remember hunting with your kids. Walking around town with your family. Running into neighbors. Making new friends. Laughing. Searching. Trading. Helping somebody else. And maybe a little kid clutching a plastic buddy like they'd just discovered buried treasure.
Because those are the things we actually made this summer.
Stories. Memories. Community.
Last night was an incredible finale, but seeing hundreds of people come together reminded me that this became so much bigger than anything I could have created by myself.
We built this together.
Thank you for showing up. Thank you for helping. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for believing in Freddie. And thank you for proving all summer long that something as simple as putting a little good out into the world can come back bigger than you ever imagined.
I hope somewhere along the way, Freddie inspires a few of you to do the same.
Put good out there. 💚
Thank you for an absolutely unforgettable Summer of Fun. 🐸

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

📹 CAN’T MAKE IT TONIGHT? FOLLOW ALONG!
Here’s the link to our Andover Square Cam so you can watch the excitement from home! 👀✨
https://www.youtube.com/live/Zei2Er-NUhY?is=Ypc4fzxzMhjwe3Tc

09/04/2026

The website is LIVE! 🎉

Armstrong has fixed the backend issue, and www.pvfundraising.com is now up and running for everyone!

Thank you so much for your patience while we worked through the problem. ❤️💛 Now is the perfect time to grab your PV Hype Chain and support two great organizations at once — Pymatuning Valley Youth Sports and the Andover Buddy Hunt!

🏈⚽🏀 Show your Laker pride. Support our community.
👉 www.pvfundraising.com

09/04/2026

🌊✨ IT’S GRAND FINALE DAY! ✨🌊

Tonight we light up Andover for our GRAND FINALE DEEP SEA GLOW HUNT!

Meet us in the square at 8:30 PM for free glow bracelets and stickers for the kids, some fun with DJ Floyd, and everything you need to know before we send everyone out together!

⏰ At 9:00 PM, we COUNT DOWN — and the hunt begins!

And we have been BUSY. 😂

🌟 OVER 800 glowing Deep Sea Buddies will be hidden throughout Andover tonight!

And because apparently 800+ buddies weren't enough… we have one more surprise. 👀

🗺️ We’ll be announcing a SECRET BONUS LOCATION in the square tonight!

More buddies. One more place to hunt. And everyone finds out at the same time!

📹 CAN’T MAKE IT TONIGHT? YOU CAN STILL JOIN THE FUN!

We’ll post a link to the Square Cam, and DJ Floyd will be going LIVE, so friends and family who can’t be there can follow along and be part of the excitement from wherever they are. 💙

🍔🍦 AND WHILE YOU’RE IN TOWN…

We’d love for you to show some love to a couple of the small-town businesses that have supported the Andover Buddy Hunt this season!

Stop by McDonald’s — this week’s Gold Buddy sponsor of Larry the Lobster 🦞 — grab some dinner, and bring it to the square for a late family picnic while you wait for the fun to begin.

Or stop by Bonnie Lee Creamery, right there on the square! They’ll be open until 10 PM, so grab some ice cream while you’re waiting for the countdown — or celebrate finding that perfect buddy afterward. 🍦💕

These local businesses have supported us, and we’d LOVE to see our Buddy Hunt families support them right back. ❤️

A few reminders before tonight:

💚 One buddy per person
📍 Public places only
🚫 NO early hunting
❤️ Be safe, have fun, and make some memories!

Tonight is our final scheduled Buddy Hunt of the season. What started as a simple idea turned into something bigger than we ever imagined, and tonight we get to celebrate it with all of you.

🌊 8:30 PM — ANDOVER SQUARE
✨ 9:00 PM — GO TIME!

Let’s make one last summer memory together. We can’t wait to see you tonight! 💙

09/03/2026

🚨 WANTED: Larry the Laughing Lobster! 🦞✨

This golden McBuddy will be on the loose Friday night—and Larry thinks he’s pretty darn claw-some. 😂

Find Larry during the Deep Sea Night Hunt and you’ll snag a special prize courtesy of McDonald’s of Andover! 🍟💛

Somebody’s gonna be McLovin’ their find Friday night! 🦞🏆

09/03/2026

🌊✨ TOMORROW NIGHT — HERE’S THE PLAN! ✨🌊

We’ve had a lot of questions about how tomorrow night will work, so here’s a quick rundown!

🕣 8:30–9:00 PM — Meet us in the Andover Square

We’re asking everyone to gather in the Square before the hunt begins. This gives our hiding crew a chance to move throughout the village and get OVER 800 BUDDIES tucked into place without hunters already wandering through the areas they’re trying to hide in.

And while you wait, this is a great chance to meet people in our community, say hi to friends, and get your own hunting party together and ready to go!

We’ll also be handing out FREE glow bracelets and stickers to all of our hunters. 💚

The glow bracelets were generously donated through our Amazon Wish List, and they’re about more than just looking cool. Once it gets dark, visibility becomes one of our biggest safety concerns, especially with so many little hunters moving around the village.

Keeping our kids glowing and visible is just one more thing we can do to help keep everyone safe.

And as a bonus, it means every child leaves the Buddy Hunt with something, whether they find the exact Buddy they were hoping for or not.

🎤 DJ Floyd will be there, and we’ll be LIVE from 8:30–9:00 PM!

Our last Glow Hunt live reached more than 11,000 views, so stop by, say hi, and be part of this one!

Tell Floyd what Buddy you’re hoping to find, what you love about the Buddy Hunt, what you’re excited about tomorrow night — or even what you love about Floyd. 😂

We’ll also post the Andover Square Cam link starting around 8:00 PM so friends and family who can’t be there can still watch the Square fill up and see what we’ve built.

👀 While all of that is happening, our hiding crew will be hard at work.

In addition to our hiders, we’ll have people stationed around some of our larger and busier hiding areas keeping an eye on buddies once they’ve been placed.

We’re doing everything we can to make sure nobody starts early, nobody takes more than their share, and the hunt stays safe and fair for everyone.

If our hiders see people hanging around an area before the hunt begins, they simply won’t hide there — so please give them the space they need to work their magic.

📋 Just before 9:00 PM

I’ll be at the pavilion for a quick rundown of the rules, the hunt perimeter, and how everything works.

⏰ 9:00 PM — COUNTDOWN!

We’ll count it down together, and when we hit ZERO…

🌊✨ THE DEEP SEA GLOW HUNT OFFICIALLY BEGINS! ✨🌊

Then you’re off.

More than 800 buddies. One glowing village. One giant final family hunt.

We cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow night. 💙

09/02/2026

Hundreds of people have said they’re coming Friday night… but in the end, we really have no idea how many will show up. 😂 So we just keep printing!

We even added 18 more mermaids after finding out one little girl is really hoping to find one. We can’t guarantee her a mermaid—but we sure can improve her odds. ❤️

We’re cheering for every single person to find their perfect buddy. We can’t wait to see you Friday night! 🌊✨