A group of four people tracked down the Watercade Medallion on Monday morning, only about an hour after the search started.
Chrystal Swanson, 25, and Alissa Holmgren, 19, both of Litchfield, found the medallion underneath a merry-go-round at Northside Park near the intersection of North Swift Avenue and West Sixth Street. Stewart, 18, and Jason Terhark, 17, who are brothers, were with Swanson and Holmgren during the morning search.
“It was just kind of a guess. We’ve been in parks before, but not many people have heard of that park,” Swanson said.
The annual hunt, which is limited to public spaces, typically takes place over multiple days and involves the release of clues each day. Both the Independent Review and KLFD publicize the clues.
Monday’s clue stated, “The grass is green/ The trees are tall/ We’ll run and jump/ We’ll have a ball.”
Swanson said the reference to a “ball” initially led them to tennis courts by Litchfield High School. With no medallion in sight, they focused on the phrase, “We’ll run and jump,” which they believed indicated playground equipment might be involved.
Their next stop was Northside Park, where the merry-go-round became a prime suspect. “I thought, ‘You push this while you’re running and then you jump on,” Holmgren said.
Holmgren looked underneath the merry-go-round on one side and came up empty. Then she went to the other side. “At first, I didn’t really think it was it,” Holmgren said. “So I had to crawl way under and then I saw the sail (on the medallion), and I yelled that I had got it.”
The last time someone found the medallion on the first day — Jack, Todd and Sarah Kuechle — was 2009.
It wasn’t known whether Swanson and Holmgren set a record by finding the medallion within about an hour of the contest starting.
“I hope we broke a record,” Swanson said. “That would be exciting.”
Copyright 2014 Litchfield Independent Review/Crow River Media/Media News Group.