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Images from the 2005 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt

OK , just breathe. – I’m getting up here to talk a bit. I brought a speech. Not because I won an Oscar, and I haven’t yet found the medallion, but I won! I won all of YOU.

Once again I have seen us strengthen friendships and make new relationships. New Daddy, RedDog, Karl & Laurie. I got to put new faces to online names of BigG, Mystical_Muzik. But there are still people I hope are here today that I haven’t met in person yet- Homeless Artist, On the Search, jusme, 231gnx – I hope you find as much kindness, respect, laughter and acceptance with these fine people as I have.

Most of us were brought together by the Winter Carnival Treasure Hunt. 
You have unique qualities that have kept us together! Some of you are terribly funny, some really care that we had a rough day, some are quiet, like Reg ;) . Sometimes we disagree with each other in the forum, we listen to each other vent, share in each others joys (like a new baby Congratulations ESD!, a new job-way to go ClueMaster!, Terry and Inks son in the Peace Corps-come home safely)

We share our private lives as much or more than we discuss clues in a treasure hunt.

There are some that we don’t hear from throughout the year that put a smile on our face the moment we see them in line at the pioneer press or out in the park, like Wright Winger, Tami or Chair guy-John. Then there’s the Clowns –"Who's goin' chicken huntin'?"

Unselfish began at the pre-hash bash with East Side Digger giving me and Scribe copies of his newspaper art project. And trickled into Marley giving me a glow in the dark bulldog and reminding me to be positive-It was the year of “I believe, I believe” from Miracle on 34th st., some of you may have heard me chanting as I dug.

Thank you Terry Knapp for bringing us tacos in the middle of a park! To everyone who brought drinks! Then the Camo Crue-always so generous! A huge thank you to anyone who gave another person a ride to the parks. Cluemaster for 2 am talks in the truck. Gordy for slipping me a handwarmer while standing in line and CM for slipping me some schnapps. Randy Rust for the last of his hot chocolate at 3 am.. Tim the hunter-thank you for carrying Ares heavy shovel back to my truck! Karl, Laurie & New Daddy for offering me gloves on that last night when I left mine at home! Downtown Dave for posting the clue almost every night. Chrisdigger, Ares and Artemis for waiting hours downtown for the last clue! Artemis daily report that I still have to read. and Terry Valentines editorials.

Marley and ESD for designing bumper stickers and Mom, Dad, Terry & Inks for the wonderful work they do on the buttons.

The little things throughout the year that take so much time. Like Marley, Med Hunter & Ares (and now OntheSearch) for keeping wonderful websites maintained! Everyone who takes pictures throughout the years!- Cluemaster, Ian and KC0GRN! TMK just for always making me laugh ...and playing with our kids at the re-hash bash every year! THX our “stern controller” in the cooler. 
Scribe hanging out with me under the table at the Rockin' Lobster. 
Green? Just cause it’s hard being Green.

LL – you have graduated from (CCA) Cooler Crew Anonymous – you stuck by Phalen this whole hunt! Congratulations!

AW and Marley- looking forward to a good old fashion treasure hunts!

If I have not mentioned your name it isn’t because you’re not thought of.

Cooler Crew are, restaurant & business owners, website organizers, master gardeners, authors, lawyers, figure skaters, car salesmen, photographers, clue writers, police officers, filmmakers, ... moms, dads, grandma’s & grandpa’s, we donate our time to our friends, habitat for humanity, the historical society, schools.—YOU ARE THE SPIRIT OF ST PAUL –you are the soul of medallion hunts.

I don’t plan to win an Oscar if I make it in Trent's movie and I may not ever find that medallion but You can forever call me ...” lucky... humbled.... proud.... blessed...” to have met every single one of you. This is to all of you, I raise my shovel! Thank you.

love, Me2

Patrick McGovern's - January 18th, 2003

The Cooler Crew has gathered at Patrick McGovern's to celebrate the beginning of the new Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt for each of the last five years. The celebration is always filled with the gathering of seasoned and newbie hunters, many laughs, reminisces of previous hunts, predictions of where the medallion might be hidden, who will find it, when the prized medallion will be found, and as the evening comes to an end, the reading of the first clue.

The evening of January 18th brought medallion finder hopefuls together with a few previous finders in the basement level of Patrick McGovern's. We were about forty in number. Some came and spent the entire evening. Others came early and had to leave. There were also hunters that arrived later and stayed until after Me2, Ares and Those Medalling Kids brought the paper back from the Pioneer Press. Me2 read the first clue for the crowd of hunters and the Crew slowly dissipated and went home to noodle that clue.

Mom and Dad had this year's version of the Cooler Crew commemorative buttons ready in a choice of six colors. Marley King and Artemis the Huntress had coordinating bumper stickers. Ares brought business cards with the site URLs for the People's Forum message boards and the Cooler Crew site. Me2 brought a guest book for everyone to sign. So much talent and great ideas!

It's always heart-warming to see old friends and meet new Cooler Crew members who share the same obsession of hunting for a little blue puck in the middle of winter - snow or no snow. There can be no better way to begin this yearly obsession than to share the laughter, the whooping, the din of conversation and the joy of greeting hunters as they arrive.

The 2003 Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt has begun.

Coolerheads will Prevail!!!!

Me2 and the Coolerheads

(all right Cooler Crew! Ready to read the clue? ) 
-I'll say we are! 
-Yeah! 
-Let's read it now! 
Okay, TMK? 
-Okay! 
Okay, THX? 
-Okay! 
Okay,ARES? ARES? AREEEEEEEEZ! 
-YES DEAR!!!) 

Treasure Hunting time is here 
Just got the 1st clue from the Pioneer 
We've got our shovels in our car 
The pre-dig gig was at the bar 
Want a clue thats fun to noodle 
Me2, I want the kit & caboodle! 
We could hardly stand the wait 
To find the coin, it's our fate 

(Okay Crew get ready) 
That was scooberific, TMK. 
-rooby rooby rooo. 
Very 'ordinary', THX. 
-Ahhh. 
Ah, Ares, you wern't noodling, watch it. 
Ah, Ares. Ares. AREEEEEEZ! 
-YES DEAR.) 

Want a clue thats fun to noodle 
Me2, I still want the kit & caboodle! 
We could hardly stand the wait 
To find the coin, it's our fate 
We could hardly stand the wait 
To find the coin, it's our fate 

(Very good, coolerheads) 
-Lets read the clue again! Yeah, lets read the clue again! 
No, That's enough, lets not overanalyze it 
-What do you mean overanalyze? 
-We want to read the clue again! 
Now wait a minute, coolerheads 
-Why can't we read the clue again? 
-[Cooler Crew chatter] 
Ares, dig over there...THX, just a minute. 
TMK will you dig over there? Crew...

1st day-7/30/02

As soon as it was decided we would do the hunt, Marley started planning- coming up with clue ideas and bringing home different things to hide the coin in. We made a list of 12 parks that we liked, to check out the next night, and he made the coin.

2nd day-7/31/02

I got called in to work for a few hours, so Marley, Scot, and their dad Ed went to check out the parks. They started at Swede Hollow, which they said looked good, lots of possibilities. Next they went to Mears, Scot said "this is it" and Marley said, "no its way too small". But then a light bulb went off -if he thought that so would other hunters, so he said "yea, this is it". It was just after dark so they decided to only stop at one more park and head home. They stopped at Cass Gilbert Overlook, and ruled it out immediately.

Later that night they told me about where they went, and what they came up with, liking the Mears idea, but not ruling Swede out yet. We decided to go back the next night and see if it was feasible , if there would be enough hiding spots or things to work with for clues.

3rd day-8/01/02

The four of us went back to Mears the next night, armed with camera, notebook, and the coin ready to be hidden in case we found a hiding spot we liked. After walking around the park, taking pics and notes, finding several possible hiding places, we were walking back to the car and I pointed at the clock and asked if it could be hidden in or under it. Marley investigated first and found the hole in one corner. We checked it out and agreed it would be OK there, it was a little hard to get out, but doable. So we left it there, took a few more pics and notes and left. We started tossing around ideas for clues on the way home, and doing research and writing them in earnest that night.

4th day-8/02/02

Marley went to Marthaler that morning to get the pink brush, the Nascar Hat, and the Pooh shoe, but only found the pink brush. We met everyone at Marthaler that evening, and then went to Buggs to celebrate the Medallionator hunt.

5th day-8/03/02

Marley made a second coin to take pictures of and wrapped it up like the first. We went up north, brought all our clue-in resources and worked on the clues. Finished some thoughts/ideas, changed wordings, and messed with the layout of the clues.

6th day-8/04/02

Came home in the early evening and decided we needed to check on the coin, make sure it was still there and hadn't been affected by the rain. The three of us walked around the park, and Marley put the little pink brush up in a pine tree(we had planned on using it in a clue but didn't), then sat on a rock until we got kicked out by the park police. The coin was still there and had been unaffected, so we decided we were OK to leave it there (we were still considering moving it to Swede Hollow).

7th - 10th days- 8/05/02 to 8/08/02

We continued to write new alternate clues, tweak the clues, and work on the order. We'd each take them to work and work on them, then talk about it later. Steve would (with my final approval) change, add, and subtract words, or rearrange phrases, to make them hopefully less obvious or misleading. And we must have changed the order a dozen times, trying out different combinations with alternate clues.

11th day- 8/09/02

We made a last change to the clue order after Me2 said on the board that she hoped the first clue wouldn't be the same ol park in St Paul clue. We took the 2nd part off the 3rd clue and added it to the bottom of the 1st clue, and at 9pm, with hands shaking from adrenaline, I typed in the first clue and hit post.

The rollercoaster ride started,

and what a ride it was! I thought the most challenging parts about writing the clues were the ordering of the clues- trying not to give away too much too early, while still giving out enough to get people out looking, and trying to figure out what people will think and read into the clues-what will get them where. There were many thoughts, twists and turns we didn't anticipate -such as Jake going to COMO on CLUE 10 : )

But I have to say I don't think it would have worked for a hunt as large as the PP, and if it had been just me writing the clues it probably would have been easier and not lasted as long as it did. In our case 2 (or 3) heads was definitely better than 1.

It was a tough year to be a hardcore digger. A lack of snow, cryptic clues, and an amazingly early find left most of us out of the proper park. Several folks let it be known that they were disappointed with the imagination of the hunt clues and hiding spot this year. Perhaps the hiders were trying to throw us for a loop by picking a new and small park. After all, Conway worked until the ho-hum happenstance finding.

Complaints were also made about the slipshod monitoring of the message board this year. Several folks spammed the crap out of the board with inane jibber jabber. It's not as if we haven't had to deal with this before, but the past few years have been particularly difficult to enjoy on the board. But it's better to have than to not have. We'll have to hope the potty mouths and space wasters dull out as our blue puck shines on.

And when all's said and done, the only spam we'd like to see is of the canned variety from treasure hunt sponsor, Hormel. It's yummerific!

Grin.

Proof that the Treasure Hunt medallion is almost always placed where it's just too easy to find—or the clues are rarely written with enough cleverness to baffle anyone:

1. Cooler Crew site (best clue-hunters, people who use the clues and don't randomly dig, read this site) has analyzed and posted only 6 clues; not even had time to post their analysis of the 7th clue—and therefore, the medallion is found by a lucky guess, before clues can lead to a specific location.
2. Mediallion is usually placed directly in a park; instead of along the outer edge of a park where it would not be so obvious—and therefore, the medallion is found by a lucky guess, before clues can lead to a specific location.
3. Many clues still remain to be published—and therefore, the medallion is found by a lucky guess, before clues can lead to a specific location.
4. People who hide the medallion are afraid the hunters are going to destroy too much property—that shouldn't be THEIR concern, because it should be the HUNTERS' concern (with violating the law)—hunters will learn to respect private property; so they very rarely hide the medallion along any old street sidewalk away from a park—and therefore, the medallion is found by a lucky guess, before clues can lead to a specific location.
5. Many clue-readers are looking for cryptic cleverness such as transposed words/letters, re-arrangement of letters/words/sentences or hidden meanings to words/phrases—well, that's so rare, the dinosaurs gave up long ago—and therefore, the medallion is found by a lucky guess, before clues can lead to a specific location.
6. The clue-interpretations posted on Cooler Crew, prior to the actual find of the medallion, are far too clever in comparison to the actual Pioneer Press interpretations posted after the medallion is found—and therefore, the medallion is found by a lucky guess, before clues can lead to a specific location.

Summary:

The Pioneer Press needs a clever clue writer who concentrates on trying to hide the medallion where it won't be easily found; instead of concentrating on a nice centrally public large open area where people won't destroy property—let the hunters be responsible for not destroying property, instead of assuming they will destroy property if you make the medallion too hard too find.

Joe Gervais

This years clues ( some of them) were a little misleading...

1. light a spark?
2. knit your brows?
3. time and tide?
4. far from the woods? (what woods. those are trees, not woods)
5. lots of space... it is a tiny park.
6. trip over the goods?

I think that this should've been done just a little differently, maybe a little more realistic. I mean, where is the clue with the potato chip container? Nowhere. There is nothing in the clues that pointed to this.

Kelly Kirkpatrick

Usually the Water Cooler site has been pretty good with this, but this year, especially on Thursday (Jan. 24) night, I (read) some very inappropriate language in the Cooler site and then today after the medallion was found, some inappropriate bashing towards both clue writers and finders. I think it's very rude, disrespectful, and inappropriate. So, I am wondering if for next year, someone could just monitor that site from time to time and possibly delete any mean messages.

I really dislike winter in Minnesota but you should know that one of my highlights is this excellent medallion hunt!

Michelle Romano

Man, I sure hate people that spam the boards—this is supposed to be fun. I bet one-third of the posts are complete junk.

Dan Vogtman