Raleigh ‘Cash Crawl’ sends hundreds, searching for $100s, in weekly scavenger hunt
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- Raleigh host stages weekly Tuesday cash hunts that have grown from $100 to larger drops.
- Events have drawn hundreds and attracted business sponsorships, raising crowd concerns.
- Kornegay has limited publicity and avoided Saturday drops to curb uncontrolled turnout.
The craziness started in December when Roger Kornegay tucked a $100 bill inside a paint can, hid it behind a bush outside an undisclosed Boston Market and posted the whole thing on Instagram — inviting his audience to come grab free cash.
It took just four minutes for a white pickup to drive up and collect the Christmas loot, followed moments later by a car full of also-rans.
“Hey,” said Kornegay, driving up from his hiding place. “Next week, bigger drop!”
Three months later, Capital City Cash Crawl has ballooned into a Triangle-wide treasure hunt, sending hundreds scrambling every Tuesday for a hidden wad of bills.
The idea came when Kornegay and his wife, Briana, wanted to offer a quick thanks to all who support Raleigh FoodTrap, their widely followed, social-media outlet that covers the local eats scene.
But the hunters kept coming, as did the local businesses wanting a quick plug in exchange for sponsorships, so the prize box jumped to $250 by the fourth week.
“It’s been nuts,” Kornegay told The News & Observer. “People are taking off their jobs now on Tuesday. They feel like they’ll make more than working eight hours at a desk. There’s people calling in sick.”
“People magically appear”
So Kornegay upped his game.
This reached new comedic levels when Kornegay hid three bills — two $100s, and a $50 — behind duct-tape stuck to a New Bern Avenue mural.
He even added wads of tape as a decoy, and the first lucky scavenger only found two of three greenbacks.
“She’s leaving money on the wall, y’all!” said Kornegay, secretly filming from a block away.
Meanwhile, the Instagram and TikTok videos showing cash-hunters poking around in bushes, lifting up rocks and digging through piles of pine straw collected an avalanche of views.
Crowds in the dozens became crowds in the hundreds, enough that Kornegay started shooting his footage with a drone. He also stopped advertising exactly how much money he’d hidden, not wanting to draw an out-of-control crowd.
“I’m really afraid to do a Saturday crawl,” he said.
On Tuesday, he planned on dropping the treasure at the closed Bahama Breeze on Wake Forest Road, but he noticed a driver following him around the property.
She persisted until finally rolling down the window and asking, “Have you stashed the cash already?”
Busted. She must have spotted his car with the FoodTrap license plate.
“The minute the post goes up,” said Kornegay, “within four or five minutes, people are out there hunting. You’ve got to see it in person. People magically appear.”
Since he started, successful hunters have reached out to FoodTrap to say the cache of cash paid their electric bill or back rent. One winner wrote to say his good friend’s house burned down the day he won the Cash Crawl, so he turned over his entire winnings.
A college kid found a cash bag hidden inside the tire of a Tesla parked at Triangle Town Center, and he soon passed out a few bills as a consolation prize to some fellow hunters.
“It’s been really uplifting,” Kornegay said.
Not only have his own followers shot up — 208,000 on Instagram alone — but his sponsors are getting fresh eyeballs through their proximity. One fan wrote to Kornegay asking for help with his father’s dementia — without even winning the treasure hunt.
Giving away cash has always grabbed a lot of attention, especially when done for sport. And later this month, watch for a new level of mania.
Then, the pot goes to $1,000.
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 9:41 AM.