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The Calgary Public Library is borrowing a page from Willie Wonka’s book, running a hunt for a golden ticket of its own.

Library staff got the idea from Roald Dahl’s children’s classic story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, in which characters hunt for golden tickets that gain them entry to Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory.

The tickets in the story were hidden in the wrapping of Wonka’s chocolate bars, while in the library’s version, they’re stashed somewhere in each of the 20 branches around Calgary.

Discovering one gets the finder an exclusive preview tour of Calgary’s new central library on Oct. 27, several days before it opens to the public on Nov. 1.

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The library’s Sarah Meilleur says basing the contest on Dahl’s idea made a lot of sense.

“We were inspired by this sense of quest,” Meiller said. “Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory is a place of imagination and I think the new central library’s going to be that for everyone, too. It has a bit of that sense of magic to it.”

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Library patron Melissa Leger said she’ll be searching for a golden ticket.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “A lot of folks are really anticipating getting into that new library. So I think it’s a cute opportunity to be able to get in there.”

Meilleur said 100 tickets will be hidden at library branches around Calgary.

“It could be in the children’s area,” Meiller said. “It could be hidden in a reference section in a dictionary… And there are clues along the way.”

More information on the library’s golden ticket contest is available here.

Meilleur is encouraging all Calgarians to join the search.

“Happy hunting. Good luck!”

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