Medallion Hotline 651-228-5547
Noodle Recap Folder HERE
Nightly Pre-Clue Get-Together
354 Wabasha St N
Saint Paul, MN 55102-1418, US&cid=lfmaplink2&name=&dtype=s\">Map of 354 Wabasha St N
Saint Paul, MN 55102-1418, US
Matty B\'s is the home of the Cooler Crew. We\'ve got a party going on every evening from 8 until the clue is released. Sunday night, if the hunt goes that long, the bar will be open but food will not be available.
Clues:
Clue No. 1 (Sunday, Jan. 21)
Welcome ice and snow and temperatures low
There’s no time for cold feet!
For searchers’ pleasure we’ve parked the treasure
Where nature lovers each other greet
Clue No. 2 (Monday, Jan. 22)
Boreas\' vast realm can overwhelm
Even diggers used to the long haul
So here\'s advice to put your hunt on ice:
Look no farther than good old St. Paul
Clue No. 3 (Tuesday, Jan. 23)
Hunters can be surly but in clue-time it’s early
Be safe, friends, and in the hunt revel
Near land that is high the treasure is nigh
Vagueness rules and that’s on the level
Noodle Recap Folder HERE
Nightly Pre-Clue Get-Together
354 Wabasha St N
Saint Paul, MN 55102-1418, US&cid=lfmaplink2&name=&dtype=s\">Map of 354 Wabasha St N
Saint Paul, MN 55102-1418, US
Matty B\'s is the home of the Cooler Crew. We\'ve got a party going on every evening from 8 until the clue is released. Sunday night, if the hunt goes that long, the bar will be open but food will not be available.
Clues:
Clue No. 1 (Sunday, Jan. 21)
Welcome ice and snow and temperatures low
There’s no time for cold feet!
For searchers’ pleasure we’ve parked the treasure
Where nature lovers each other greet
Clue No. 2 (Monday, Jan. 22)
Boreas\' vast realm can overwhelm
Even diggers used to the long haul
So here\'s advice to put your hunt on ice:
Look no farther than good old St. Paul
Clue No. 3 (Tuesday, Jan. 23)
Hunters can be surly but in clue-time it’s early
Be safe, friends, and in the hunt revel
Near land that is high the treasure is nigh
Vagueness rules and that’s on the level
Its either sex, drugs, or rock & roll...
or a combination of all 3?
Sugar doesn't really effect me, neither does caffeine. I remember an old co-worker once mentioned I was the calmest coffee drinker he'd ever seen.
Ohh.. weird. Well.. long as they don't mess with the medallion hunt I guess...
I just didn't realize it was happening so quickly or at all....
is that what your talking about Ian?
St. Paul Winter Carnival organizers hope to broaden its appeal by changing some of the best-known institutions. And they expect to hear more than a few complaints.
One parade, not two. A shift to Harriet Island. A less elaborate ceremony to crown King Boreas and the Queen of the Snows. The St. Paul Winter Carnival, a tribute to traditions that date to 1886, is about to undergo big changes.
And the people who run it are bracing themselves.
"We're going to tweak it so it matters to the entire community," said Kate Kelly, president and CEO of the St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation, producers of the carnival. "We're going to have some folks who are not happy."
Carnival organizers are planning a retooled January festival in response to financial challenges, a desire to broaden the festival's audience and even global warming.
The traditional Grande Day and Torchlight processions will be merged into one bigger "day-into-night" parade. And the typical trappings of the royal coronation — a fundraiser dinner that burned up more money than it raised — have been scrapped in favor of a community celebration with dancing and entertainment.
Looking ahead, organizers say they're also evaluating the relevancy of the pageants that have crowned a king and queen for each carnival since the first in 1886.
The carnival's 22-member board decided on the changes in July and will present them for the first time to festival volunteers this week. Festivities will take place Jan. 26 to Feb. 4.
Organizers promise fresh energy from new activities at Harriet Island, which will become the carnival's headquarters. Such events include a giant ice maze, a global-warming "weather station," an attempt to build the world's largest snow sculpture and a massive winter-survival campout for Boy Scouts guided by polar explorer Will Steger.
It gets quirkier. Kelly is trying to woo the Jamaican dogsled team to participate in a dogsled rally. (Yes, in the same underdog spirit that propelled the Caribbean country's bobsled team to the 1988 Winter Olympics, Jamaica is apparently training a team of mutts to mush with the help of sponsor and country-beach crooner Jimmy Buffett.)
A money crunch in part has motivated the festival to take a new direction, Kelly said. Last winter, in Kelly's first year at the helm of the organization, the event lost about $43,000 on a $1 million budget. Still, insiders consider that an improvement; the prior year, it came up short by about $160,000.
Just as significant, though, planners and observers acknowledge a need to capture a larger, younger and more diverse crowd that better reflects the community.
"The tradition is what makes it rich, but sometimes that tradition gets so overpowering that it's not inviting," said Brad Toll, vice president of marketing for the St. Paul RiverCentre Convention and Visitors Authority. "I'm excited that they're reaching out to other audiences. No one ever said the festival is about these certain activities. It's about our spirit here in St. Paul."
Even some members of the carnival faithful say the royal coronation, which used to be the city's "it" event from the 1930s through the 1950s, should now skip some of the pomp and circumstance. The gala events typically go on for four hours or more, featuring skits from each alumni group of princesses, princes, kings and queens.
"Then every single King Boreas and queen for the last 100 years who's still alive stands up and waves to everybody, one at a time," said one past princess who didn't want to be identified because of her ties to the organization. "Then every single princess stands up to be acknowledged. Everyone wants to still feel like they were a king or a queen or whatever. It doesn't have to be like that. You don't have to get up every year and pound your chest."
Although she sees excitement in the new changes, others see the demise of cherished traditions.
Parades have been a hallmark of the carnival for its 120-year history. The Grande Day procession, held early in the festival, featured floats and figures celebrating the legend of Boreas, the ice king, and his royal family. A week later, the carnival wraps up with the evening Torchlight parade and the heat-loving Vulcan Krewe's dethroning of Boreas — a victory symbolizing the coming of spring.
Early reaction to merging the two processions has been "not good," said John Moore, a volunteer who heads the carnival's parade committee.
"I think people understand it's a financial thing, and it will carry on, and no one will lose any sleep over it," said Moore, of Maplewood. "But it was a tradition, and it's going by the wayside."
The 2007 parade will be bigger, place more emphasis on performances rather than hand-waving and conclude with fireworks, Kelly said. Moore said he and other carnival supporters are working on a five-year plan to increase the parade's prominence i
The carnival, Kelly said, can no longer count on the Siberia-like winters of its early years to pull off some of its signature events. Last year, ice sculptures melted in the 40-degree warmth, and construction of the ice palace in 2004 started late and was scaled back because of balmy weather. Such uncertainties typically unnerve event sponsors who want firmer guarantees before committing cash.
Now the festival is moving to Harriet Island, where coordinators say they can make their own snow and their own cold: air-conditioned tents that can enclose the sculptures.
Bringing the carnival to the riverfront will seal Harriet Island's role as a festival grounds throughout the year, said Bob Bierscheid, who heads the city's parks and recreation department. Visitors also will find it easier to partake in the carnival if it's all in one spot, he said.
"We're not abandoning downtown," Bierscheid said, adding that the city and other partners will continue to offer an outdoor skating rink and other winter activities in or near Rice Park.
In 2008, the carnival will seek two additions — a snowboarding half-pipe (that could be used for skateboarding in summer) and an "ice community." The latter, though shorter than an ice palace, would feel more like a playground, possibly showcasing a lobby bar and a replication of Rice Street and other St. Paul landmarks, such as the famed Dale Street shack of late entrepreneur Jack "Tiger" Rosenbloom.
"We can't stake our future on our ability to build ice castles over the next 100 years," Kelly said. "If it doesn't work, we'll change it again."
Laura Yuen can be reached at lyuen@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5498.
What's new: weather, slides and mazes
Dogs and slides and mazes, oh my! In addition to changes planned for its parades and coronation ceremony, the St. Paul Winter Carnival plans several new touches for the coming festival, with the bulk of activities shifting to Harriet Island. Here's a short list:
• A giant ice maze will invite kids to find Minnesota-themed memorabilia frozen into the walls. Corndog, anyone?
• A science lab and weather station will teach folks about global warming and earth science.
• Workers will attempt to build the world's largest snow sculpture.
• Fireworks willlight up the riverfront on the carnival's final Saturday.
• Bands and other acts will perform under the heated Minnesota Hotdish Tent.
• Noon-hour education programs will showcase ethnic traditions and diversity at the Harriet Island pavilion.
• The button bash, a pre-carnival kickoff held in the fall to unveil the carnival button, will take place at Como Zoo and the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory. The event will help promote the zoo's new polar bear exhibit, expected to open in 2008.
• Planners also are hoping to move forward with a kids' snowmobile rally, a snow slide and a dogsled rally, possibly featuring the Jamaican dogsled team.
Those parades were privately funded anyhow. There is no reason for the merging of the 2 parades. ... supposedly this will be a very small Winter Carnival year and probably very disappointing.
Think they'll go back to 1 button design?
Besides, the parade is still downtown isn't it?
If ya ask me, let em stay outside at rice park. if they melt, oh well. Get em made, judged and everything the 1st day. People that go the last day might be treated to a wet puddle, but hey, that's what ya get for being late.
Putting them in a temperature controlled environment just seems like an insult to Minnesota's climate. We've had tough winters and easy ones, big deal. Ice sculptures should reflect it. If you're worried about all the time and effort you spent to make a nice sculpture, you should have carved it in stone.
I usually went to the coming out parties of the Vulcs on Harriet though anyhow- that wont change.
That's funny. I went to the THX coming out party. I've never seen so much leather. :eek: :smile:
I'm not ritzy enough for royal stuff anyways. I'm a treasure hunter first and foremost.
Gotta agree with Tim, as long as they don't screw with the hunt, I'm okay with change.
I agree with 3m- I like 2 parades -
I'm kinda wondering about the button unveiling...
I love to lick popsicles.
I have this sneaking feeling, i've just left myself wide open for comment with the above sentance.
The Gong Show is infamous for several especially salicious escapades. The most memorable was an act called "The Popsicle Twins", which consisted of two women, made up to look like teenaged girls, sitting on stage and provocatively sucking Popsicles while the song "I'm in the Mood for Love" played. According to Barris in an interview years later, the censors would regularly nix acts that he thought were safe enough to air. So, he made it a point to submit acts to the censors that were totally over the line so that some of the questionable ones would slip through. The Popsicle Twins was, in Chuck's mind, totally over the line and he submitted it as a stalking horse. While legend has it the Popsicle Twins were only seen on the East Coast because the switchboards were flooded with complaints as soon as it aired, and edited out before broadcasts in other time zones - it was, in fact, seen on the West Coast. Jaye P. Morgan wouldn't allow either of the other 2 judges to hit the Gong & when the girls finished - she said "That's how I got started." The Gong Show Movie includes ten seconds of footage from this act.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gong_Show
would be cool...like 5000 calls to a line gongs them...
Found the real player video clip
 Real Player clip
I have to go with the one with the shovel sticking out of the snow pile! :sillygrin:
I also like the bundle up one. Simple. Understated. Different from anything else we've seen.
My third or fourth choice would be the one you like Timmers. It was done with some thought and originality.
Then again, I'm always partial to any sort of medallion hunting tool depicted on a button..
Polar Bears... you'd think that St. Paul has gone White Bear Lake or something. Too bad it's limited to those college students. They should have an open contest one of these years.
Also, does that mean they're going to only have one button instead of the 4 that they've done for a while?
...I need 2 figure out the loophole about not buying a button but still be registored