Blog posts

During the hunt, get together at Yarusso Bros. Italian Restaurant on Payne Avenue. Your Cooler Crew button gets you $1 off bar drinks and half-price appetizers!

The Cooler Crew would like to thank the following great local businesses for their generous donations for Mark's funeral:

	Yarusso's Italian Restaurant 635 Payne Avenue (Across from Swede Hollow) for catering the food
	Lakeside Floral, Inc. for providing husband and father bouquets
Koehler & Dramm's Institute of Floristry for making a class project out of funeral arrangements and donating the results for the funeral

We'd also like to thank Obb's Bar for the location of the Pre-Dig Gig this year, and the setup they put together, as well as their generous donation to Mark's Memorial Fund. In addition we'd like to thank the many people who have individually contributed to the fund.

When you're out and about during this year's hunt and afterwards, please patronize these businesses as you are able to in gratitude for their contributions.

Congratulations to TMK on his find of AW's 2009 Mock Hunt treasure. According to AW, this is the fastest find for his hunt thus far! Way to go!

At about 9:30 this morning, the medallion was found in Swede Hollow Park. It was found by the father/daughter team of Joe and Jessica Horwath of Maplewood. The pair claimed the entire $10,000 prize, as well as the $1,200 in groceries from Cub Foods. They'd only been out looking for an hour or so when they stumbled across it. It was found several feet away from where it was originally hidden; someone probably tossed it away with their shovel. Ma Press has a great piece of poetry courtesy of the clue writer about it.

Before each night's clue comes out, many members of the Cooler Crew get together in downtown Saint Paul as a way to wind down at the end of a long day of digging, and to recover some strength for the night of digging that often follows the release of later clues. These get-togethers will either be at Wild Tymes or at the Bulldog in Lowertown. Stay tuned to the forums at ableminds for details of each night's gathering.

January 17, 2009
Obb's Sports Bar and Grill
Saint Paul

We've made it. Ten years ago, give or take a few days, we held the very first Cooler Crew Pre-Dig Gig at McGovern's. Tonight, we held the eleventh annual Pre-Dig Gig at Obb's. Over the course of the evening, somewhere between 150 and 200 people came through the doors.

Originally planned for Matty B's, the party was moved on the last minute to Obb's, who were more than accomodating. With the Pioneer Press publishing the first clue online and in the early Sunday edition of the newspaper, being downtown isn't really necessary anymore, since we all have the clue going in and don't need to go to the paper to get it.

As usual, Mom and Dad had the annual Cooler Crew buttons; there were plenty of them left over. If you didn't get one and still want one, contact me2. Lilman provided the evening's entertainment from his DJ booth, and there was even a little karaoke going on. For the last several years, Clue Master has orgainzed a park pick pool, and with a $155 total prize for the winner, this year was no exception.

One of the best parts of every pre-dig and every rehash bash, apart from catching up with old friends who we may not otherwise see during the year, is seeing all of the new faces in the crowd. Some of them are long-time lurkers on the boards coming for the first time to hang out. Others are folks who hear about the party and come on in. Despite where any of us comes from, or how we got here, we all share a passion for the hunt.

This year's pre-dig brought a special guest. Kat invited the Winter Carnival President and CEO, Beth Pinkney to the event. As it turns out, we've been relatively unknown to them, almost to the point of being a well-kept secret. Having been involved with getting access to the Carnival royal family in the past, and the difficulties associated with it, it was really good to see Carnival staff come out and mingle with the community that makes the Carnival the success that it is.