Daily Press Advertising Representative Holly Statum said this contest has been a local tradition for quite some time.

“We’ve been doing it for several years, along with participating businesses,” she said.

To enter the Golden Ticket contest, children between the ages of 7 and 12 searched issues of the Daily Press to find peppermints listing the names of participating advertisers. Once they found these names, they wrote them on their entry forms.

As the event began Friday, the semifinalists’ winning entry forms were randomly drawn from a bucket. This determined the order in which these children chose their gift bags, which were filled with toys, games, passes to area attractions, and more.

Jordan Beck | Daily Press Semifinalists in this year’s Daily Press Golden Ticket contest hold up their winning entry forms during an event held at the Family Inn in Escanaba Friday. From left, Evan Tryan, 12, of Escanaba; Braelyn LaBonte, 8, of Escanaba; Charlee Klink, 9, of Garden; Graison Pare, 11, of Gladstone; Katherine Henschel, 10, of Escanaba; Lauren Pare, 8, of Gladstone; Ty Peterson, 7, of Escanaba; Emily Robinette, 12, of Escanaba; and Karia Asselin, 12, of Escanaba are pictured.

Each bag also included a box of M&M’s. While most of these boxes contained plain M&M’s, one box — which was at the bottom of the gift bag chosen by Robinette — had peanut M&M’s.

“The (box) that has peanut M&M’s is our grand prize winner,” Statum said.

Robinette said her decision to choose what ended up being the winning gift bag was based on her favorite number.

“It (was) the tenth bag from the left,” she said.

As the grand prize winner, Robinette won a 10-inch Lenovo tablet. She said she plans to use this tablet for social networking.

“I’m gonna download Snapchat and stuff on it,” she said.

Another semifinalist, Ty Peterson, 7, of Escanaba, said he appreciated being able to take part in the Golden Ticket contest.

“It’s pretty fun to be one of the (semifinalists), and it’s my first year doing it,” he said.

Peterson said he was particularly glad to find a movie pass in his bag.

“It was pretty lucky for me to get it,” he said.

Other semifinalists in this year’s Golden Ticket contest included Karia Asselin, 12, of Escanaba; Katherine Henschel, 10, of Escanaba; Charlee Klink, 9, of Garden; Braelyn LaBonte, 8, of Escanaba; Jayden Ness, 10, of Gladstone; Graison Pare, 11, of Gladstone; Lauren Pare, 8, of Gladstone; and Evan Tryan, 12, of Escanaba.

Kim LaBonte, owner of the Family Inn, said she was glad to be able to have this event at her business.

“It’s great, bringing people into the restaurant,” she said.

The Family Inn gave treats to the semifinalists and their families ­during the event.

“We’re offering free ice cream and soda to the kids and their parents,” LaBonte said.

This year’s Golden Ticket contest was sponsored by Bay Area Pool and Spa, Baybank, the Bishop Noa Home for Senior Citizens, Carlyon Dentistry, Down to Earth Media, ECO Fuels and Gladstone’s Mobil, FedEx, Health Way Nutrition Center, Hoholik’s Ace Hardware, Lakestate Industries, Lakeview Assisted Living, Lisa Ann, Northern Sun Winery, the OSF St. Francis Auxiliary, Pioneer TV & Appliance, T&T True Value Hardware, Terrace Bay Hotel and Freshwater Tavern, and the Upper Peninsula State Bank.

Statum said the Daily Press staff is happy to run this contest each year.

“It’s a fun contest we like to do with our younger readers,” she said.

Robinette thanked the paper for putting on this contest.

“Thank you to the Daily Press,” she said.