40 teams compete in Puzzlemania challenge

Members of Sunday afternoon's first-place team, The Sleepers, include (from left) Carianne Schmidt, Dana Fogle, Julia Yuhasz and Laurel Webster. Toni Milbourne
SHEPHERDSTOWN — A record number 40 teams turned out to participate in the Puzzlemania competition on Sunday afternoon, as part of a fundraiser hosted by the Friends of Music. The annual event, which was in its seventh year, saw more than double the number of teams that had turned out for the previous year’s competition.
“This is our largest event yet,” said organizer Heather Marshall, a member of the Friends of Music Board of Directors. “We could have gone with a few more teams, but we had capped it at 40.”
Each of the teams received the same 500-piece puzzle. This year, the puzzle featured flowering plants of all sorts, outside of a flower shop. Teams were given up to three hours to complete the puzzle.
Completing the puzzle was not the only challenge of the afternoon, as members of teams could handicap other teams by spending extra money to inhibit a team’s progress. For $25, a team could force an opposing team to wear oven mitts, press-on nails or even handcuffs with the goal of slowing down their progress. Several teams took advantage of the handicaps throughout the event, which helped put additional funds into the Friends of Music coffers. Some teams also took advantage of “insurance” that was available for purchase, to avoid coming under the target of a handicap. At least one team took advantage of the insurance opportunity, so they could work on the puzzle without risk of interruption.
Puzzlers got underway at just after 1 p.m., as the puzzles were opened and work began in earnest. At just over an hour, the first-place team, dubbed “The Sleepers,” called out they had finished. Comprising the team were Julia Yuhasz, Dana Fogle, Carianne Schmidt and Laurel Webster.

A team at this Sunday afternoon's Puzzlemania event was handicapped by an opposing team, who paid for them to be forced to wear oven mitts for five minutes of the competition. Toni Milbourne
“Our familiarity with the foliage in the puzzle helped us work together to finish,” Schmidt said.
“Our knowledge of nature helped,” Yuhasz confirmed, adding that the entire event was “really, really fun.”
Coming in with second place honors, were “The Whistlestoppers,” comprised of Kelly Comer, Carly Hixon, Jaque Edmisten and Ashley Adams. The team has competed for three years and has placed in the top three each year.
Rounding out the top three was third place finisher, “The Puzzlers.” Lynn Kieffer, Judy Russell and Terry Reimer joined with one additional team member to return again this year, after placing fourth in last year’s competition.
Jessica Green, a member of the “Piecing it Together” team, commented that she finds the event to be more competitive than it has been in the past.
“It’s really growing in popularity,” she said, adding that teams now bring additional members beyond the four who put the puzzle together to serve as cheerleaders or even as spies to check out the status of opposing teams.
Puzzlemania proceeds benefit the Friends of Music’s work in the community to present concerts, offer music scholarships to local students and donate musical instruments to local elementary and middle schools.
“We give grants to music teachers in both Jefferson and Berkeley counties,” said Sherry Sykes, administrator for Friends of Music. “The grants can be used for classroom supplies, instruments, anything that they need that they don’t have funds for in their budget.”
“Our goal is to get all ages involved in music,” said Judith Miller Jones, president of the Friends of Music board.
- Members of Sunday afternoon’s first-place team, The Sleepers, include (from left) Carianne Schmidt, Dana Fogle, Julia Yuhasz and Laurel Webster. Toni Milbourne
- A team at this Sunday afternoon’s Puzzlemania event was handicapped by an opposing team, who paid for them to be forced to wear oven mitts for five minutes of the competition. Toni Milbourne