News
Two In Tow & On The Go: A solo round rock adventure
Round Rock Contest currently displayed in the lobby of the Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor. Photo by Tonya Strickland.
Last week, I got a glimpse of adventuring without kids. My mission? Find the roundest rock in all of Washington. Locals who find this quest familiar will easily recognize that I’m talking about the annual Harbor History Museum Round Rock Contest.
Major bummer: I’m writing about the contest after it’s 2024 run has ended. I know! Drat. That deadline snuck up on me, too. But, fear not, we can still look forward to the museum’s announcement of who won on Aug. 20, 2024.
The Round Rock Contest: a quick summary
What it is: A light-hearted competition that began in Gig Harbor in 1951.
How to participate: Find a naturally round rock in Washington state. Make sure it’s between the size of a ping-pong ball and a softball (1.5 to 6 inches in diameter). Drop it off at the Harbor History Museum between July 16 and Aug. 3, 2024.
Judging criteria: Rocks are measured by hand and judged on how perfectly spherical they are. If two rocks are equally round, then texture, smoothness, and size become deciding factors.
Prizes: 1st place: $100; 2nd place: $50; 3rd place: $25; 4th place: $15; and 5th place: $10.
Important info: Rocks must be natural, unaltered, and tough enough to resist scratching with a pocket knife, according to the museum’s official rules.
Round Rock history: 1951
The News Tribune, June 17, 1951
The spherical treasure hunt was established 73 years ago by Gig Harbor trendsetter Clarence Elvin “C.E.” Shaw — the local sign maker and founder behind the harbor’s famous Rooster Races of the 1930s and 40s. In 1951, Shaw put the call out to adventurers everywhere when he challenged “any man or woman or child” to find the roundest rock on Puget Sound. (Even though organizers said later they expected only kids to enter). That first year the contest ran all summer, from June to September.
To round out the quest, Shaw roped in 25 local merchants from Gig Harbor to Union to pony up the $100 prize money for the public’s roundest rock, inviting their participating as co-organizers who would encourage their customers to enter so and they could display the entries in their shop windows and offices.
A community pageant was even thrown into the mix — complete with a parade of girls and a picnic to celebrate the lucky lady (or ladies) chosen as “Miss Round Rock” by popular vote. At the event, one reporter observed that the judge’s final pick for queen was gauged by the intensity of the crowd’s applause as a deciding factor.
Meanwhile, clapping had nothing to do with determining which rock entry was the roundest. Yes, each geologic marvel was were evaluated by measurements and good ‘ol fashion math to determine the perfect sphere. (More on that below).
In the end, 500 rocks were entered that first year. In all of its facets, the Gig Harbor event was considered an instant hit.
1953
Two years later, the number of rock entries doubled to 1,000. Despite extensive coverage of the first rock contest, none of the three local newspapers mentioned a 1952 event return. So, I’m not sure if Shaw skipped a year or what. But in 1953, the contest was back in full force – and in the media spotlight. Also in 1953, everyone was down to participate.
An Aug. 27, 1953 edition of the Kitsap Sun reported that Shaw, now president of the so-called Round Rock Association, told the paper: “While it was first intended as a kid’s proposition, it finished with most of the prizes going to adults.”
And they weren’t just locals. Tourists were entering, too:
“About 1,000 rocks from all over the state and several neighboring states were entered in the contest — ranging from pea-size to 20 pounds in weight …”-Kitsap Sun. Sept. 19, 1953
The merchant sponsors had also more than doubled – going from 25 to 56 participating shops and businesses rallying around the event’s public participation. Meanwhile, girls from several regional high schools were vying for the “Miss Round Rock” title. The pageant festivities remained a draw, taking place on the shores of Kitsap County’s Horseshoe Lake where the popular Playland Resort was once established.
With nearly two dozen contestants, the beauty queen pictures published that year were iconic. Characterized by the 1950s’ glamorous yet modest style, pageant hopefuls posed in cinched one-piece swimwear, strappy sandals and a silky “Round Rock” sashe draped across their shoulder. Some girls held contest signs as press photo-ops to encourage participants to enter the rock contest.
“Twenty young girls from the various districts of the Peninsula have entered as candidates for queen of the contest. The girls will parade at 1 p.m. and again at 5 p.m. The winner will then be chosen by popular vote. At a later date, the queen, along with the other contestants, will appear on KTNT-TV and will announce the Round Rock winners and present them their prizes.”
– The News Tribune, Aug. 23, 1953
After 1953
Previous news stories said Shaw intended to make the Round Rock contest an annual event. But after 1953, it seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. At least, it did in terms of news coverage. Shaw died in 1963 at age 77 – a decade after what appeared to be the last rock contest.
1992 and 1998
In fact, the hunt for round rocks weren’t mentioned in the Tacoma News Tribune or the Kitsap Sun again until 39 years later when the Greater Gig Harbor Business Association ran an ad for its Fall Festival in The News Tribune’s Oct. 2, 1992 edition. The festival featured karaoke, apple bobbing and “the world-famous ‘Round Rock Contest.'” Was that contest related to Shaw’s original event? I’m not sure. But, in 1998, the Gig Harbor community made a big to-do over bringing back Shaw’s official Round Rock Contest, with winners announced in the popular Maritime Gig Festival. That trend seemed to stick around for a number of years, and drop off in others, until the Harbor History Museum did its own Round Rock Contest more recently outside of the Maritime festival.
2024
In present day here at Two in Tow, our original scouting plan was for Clara, Wyatt and I to visit all the rocky saltwater beaches and perhaps a freshwater river or two in our search for round rocks. But then all those summer camps we signed up for got in the way. And before we knew it — boom. The round rock deadline was upon us. So — gasp — I went looking without them!
When we’d planned to look together, I didn’t mind the idea of long scouting strolls across the beaches, taking breaks between sand castle building and swimming sessions. But without kids, efficiency was top-of-mind for this mama and writer. My solo strategy? Look up old newspaper clips to see where previous winners found their round rocks. Easy peasy, right? Not … so much. In fact, it’s comical where I actually found my round rock entry after all that research. But I’ll get to that in a minute.
Local scouting options
“Scutter Creek”
In Shaw’s very first Round Rock Contest, the $100 first place prize went to Tacoma resident William “W.H. Ruddell”. (The winners’ last name was spelled as “Ruhle” in another newspaper). W.H.’s rock was reportedly found in 1934 in “Scutter Creek” near Kapowsin, described as roughly 25 miles southeast of Tacoma. But that rock, apparently, spent nearly two decades chillin’ at the dude’s house before becoming the perfect contest entry years later.
It appeared Scutter Creek could be my new rock-finding destination. But … While I love me a good mini road trip, I had my doubts. First, I couldn’t find that creek on Google Maps today. Second, the reality was that R.H.’s rock was discovered 90 years ago. In pursuit of its twin, my chances of getting hopelessly lost (and late to the kids’ summer camp pickup) were high. I decided not to chance it.
So back to the archives I went.
Purdy
In another 1951 article, a beach in Purdy was mentioned. That location was closer to home, but I didn’t know if they meant a waterfront house in Purdy or the Purdy Sand Spit, or somewhere else altogether. Plus, I’m always behind on checking the tides. Later, I realized that from the looks of this July 1951 picture in the Harbor History Museum’s digital photo collection, the Purdy Sand Spit rocks were quite promising. So that’s back on my idea list for next year.
The News Tribune, Aug. 3, 1951.
Additional winners placed for round-rock prizes in 1951, but the news clips I saw didn’t disclose where they were found.
Narrows Beach
In the end, I decided to look closer to home at Narrows Beach, a PenMet Parks site described as having “1,315 feet of sandy-rock beach” stretched beneath the twin spans of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
And, man oh man, there are a ton of rocks there. Surely this beach is the winning spot, I thought.
But each of those rocks was… more of a tease than the last! Doh. There I found rocks that were:
- Round from the top, poking out from their sandy resting places, only to reveal pudgy, flat bases upon removal.
- Perfectly smooth but completely flat, more like a skipping stone than a round rock.
- Annoyingly elongated. I’m shaking my fist at those rotten egg rocks, I tell you!
- Sharp with angled edges and an absolutely zero chance of roundness. A little birdy told me that a certain Gig Harbor Now history columnist entered such a rock this year — just because.
- Heart-shaped! Charming, but not currently on the menu.
- Thin, flat, blocky, wide on one side and narrow at the other, irregular, asymmetrical, squashed … I could go on.
Talk about a round-rock quest curse!
Back Home
Feeling a little defeated, I left the beach, grabbed the kids from camp, and went home. After more archive searches that evening, another winner emerged — Mrs. Charles Whitfield of Vaughn. I looked it up and her full name because I refuse to leave her identity as only her husband’s. It’s Gertrude Emily (Howe) Whitfield (1892 – 1966). The news of the day reported that her rock was the roundest out of the rocks in both the 1951 and 1953 contests:
“Mrs. Whitfield picked up the stone which measures 1.822 by 1.737 inches in her flowerbed some time ago and remembered to save it for the contest. The stone is .095 inches off from being a perfect sphere.”
Fun fact: You can still see Whitfield’s winning rock for yourself – all these years later – currently on display at the Harbor History Museum, 4121 Harborview Drive.
I’m no math expert, but her round rock sounded just about perfect. What a find! It appears the rock measurements came from a geometric formula for sphericity. I had to Google the heck out of this, but it a perfect sphere has a ratio equal to 1. And, when comparing the surface area of each rock to the surface area of a perfect sphere matching the same volume as the rock, the the ratio should also be as close to 1 as possible.
While those measurement deets were cool and all – I was delighted to read that Whitfield found her spherical splendor right at home in her Key Peninsula garden.
My backyard, Artondale
In all of my news clip sleuthing, my own property wasn’t a location I’d considered yet. And, as luck would have it, we’d just excavated an area for Bowen’s new greenhouse – creating a nice rectangular trench of unearthed rocks for me to peruse just outside the back door.
With the late-day sun still shining, after dinner I snuck outside to see what I could find. And did I scoop up the perfect backyard contender? Well, no. But wouldn’t that have made a cute story? I did find a good backup rock, though. Except it was pretty small. And, it didn’t roll away when I accidently dropped it. I let myself feel bummed just once more – but only for a short time. Then I ate some ice cream and pledged to do better.
Tacoma
The next day – the last day before 2024’s contest entry deadline – I drove to Tacoma to see my dermatologist (reminder to schedule those annual skin checks, folks!). The trip was mostly uneventful. But then, on the way home, I turned off the Google Maps lady, thinking that “surely I know my way around here now.” Within 15 minutes, I found myself lost somewhere between Tacoma’s Old Town and the West End.
That was OK, though, because if there were ever a list of “Top 5 Tonya-isms,”one would be: “I make the best discoveries when I don’t know where I am.” Or, something more poetic sounding. Because, hey, I’m on a writing deadline here. But it’s true! I usually find cool stuff or make geographic connections within a place when my driving directions have led me astray.
A round rock is found
My round rock! Discovered in Tacoma in 2024. Photo by Tonya Strickland.
Because it was there, in a little pocket of roadside nature in big-city Tacoma, that I found my round rock. Behind the wheel, I ‘flipped a B’ (aka a totally safe and legal turn), threw the car into park and nabbed my prize all under 17 seconds. Upon a brief roadside inspection, the rock appeared mostly spherical. I turned it over in my hands and its curves continued indefinitely – with no flat or narrowed bottom in sight. It could’ve been perfect – other than a big ‘ol gash missing from its side.
But would such a natural-looking flaw ruin the rock’s chances of being a viable contest contender? Or, could that pretty little gift of geology still be a winner?
All I can say is, we shall see! Because I entered that rock in all of its curvy/slashy glory the very next day, 15 minutes before the deadline. Wish me luck 🙂
Ps. Sad you missed the 2024 Round Rock Contest this year? From my experience after just three days of looking — I can say with certainty that there’s absolutely zero harm in starting your search now for the roundest rock of 2025.
See ya out there!
PS
Speaking of solo adventures without kids …
In the event Bowen and I ever had more children — or when our current two morph into moody teenage grumpsters who’d rather slam doors in my face than go on blog adventures — I’ve always kept a contingency plan simmering in the back of my mind.
You’d think such a plan would outline the steps needed to survive the wrath of sleepless infants or increasingly hormonal offspring. But, no. This particular course of action, seven years in the making, is for the really important stuff. Like blog name alternatives.
EXAMPLES:
The More Kids Contingency Plan:
“Two In Tow – Plus Some ‘Mo!”
The Moody Teen/Mom Rejection Contingency Plan:
“On The Go With None In Tow”
“None In Tow – Goin’ Solo”
“None In Tow. A Life Of Woe. But Please Still Read My Stuff”
That last one has some real potential, dontcha think? Luckily, the likelihood for babies is slim and Clara and Wyatt still think I’m cool. So all backup titles remain a work in progress.
@two.n.tow
Tonya Strickland is a Gig Harbor mom-of-two and longtime journalist. Now in the travel and family niche, her blog, Two in Tow & On the Go, was named among the 10 Seattle-Area Instagram Accounts to Follow by ParentMap magazine. Tonya and her husband Bowen moved to Gig Harbor from California with their two kids, Clara (10) and Wyatt (8) in 2021. Find them on Facebook for all the kid-friendly places in and around town.