On Day 9, it seemed it might be down to four parks.
This year’s Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt has folks digging through all this snow at four St. Paul parks: Harriet Island, Como, Swede Hollow and Crosby Farm.
Tess McNamara was sure that the medallion worth $10,000, with partners Fury Jeep, was hidden at Harriet Island — “This is where the clues say it is,” she said Monday — but her twin, Tommy McNamara, was skeptical.
“The clues say it’s here, but they’re also saying it’s at three other parks,” he said. “We’re here because the crowds are, and that’s half the fun anyway.”
Tess acknowledged that the clues could fit other parks — and that hunters should be coalescing around one park by this time in the 12-clue hunt.
“This clue writer really enjoys finding the clues that fit multiple parks in beautiful ways,” Tess McNamara said. “It’s excellent and very frustrating at the same time.”
“Then again,” said Amanda Weissner, Tommy’s girlfriend, “if it was found early because it’s too easy we’d all be upset as well.”
One good sign was a knot of past winners and other veterans at Harriet. One veteran said they had close calls a day earlier, after finding a slipper and what looked like a frozen sock that the medallion could be tucked into — referring to the “footfalls” from the first clue. “We all gathered around … and they ended up discovering (the sock) was an old used cast,” said Ed Brodie of Maplewood.
Janel Carlson said she and her mother, Deb Carlson, both of Oakdale, homed in on Harriet Island “because it’s old school,” Janel said. “It incorporates the Winter Carnival, and the Super Bowl and the last time the ice castle was here.” The last time St. Paul built a giant ice palace was the other time the Super Bowl was played here, in 1992 — and it was right where they were, on a big stretch of lawn at Harriet Island, Deb Carlson said Monday.
