2025 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt

We refer to the winds and fires that are devastating Los Angeles, including Pasadena, the “City of Roses” and the home of the Rose Bowl. Ramsey County’s “city of roses” is Roseville, whose Central Park is the place the medallion is hidden.

“Hill” and “dale” not only refer to the topography of Central Park in Roseville, but “dale,” “rolling along,” “in and out” and “shout” refer to the noise and bustle of the nearby commercial traffic of Rosedale Shopping Center.

This year’s medallion breaks tradition by taking on a square (edgy) shape rather than the traditional circular shape. “Would” suggests it is attached to wood from nearby fallen trees.

Once a prominent attraction with an ornate fountain on what is now Martin Luther King Boulevard and Cedar Street, Central Park in St. Paul was ultimately swallowed by the growing state Capitol campus nearby, as recounted in the Pioneer Press’ special section on the 175th anniversary of St. Paul’s park system. All that remains of the park is a parking ramp with a bronze plaque commemorating “Central Park.” The medallion is hidden at Ramsey County’s other Central Park in Roseville.

In 2007, the medallion was found prematurely in Hidden Falls Park after three clues, so we had to scramble and hide a second medallion and create a second set of clues. The second hiding place was Central Park in Roseville, which we have reprised for this year’s hunt.

Across Bennett Lake from the site of the prize, one can see such landmarks as the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and a large power tower. On its property Prince of Peace provides tiny houses, or “sacred settlements,” for the homeless. The path around Bennett Lake will lead hunters to the prize.

The prize is hidden in Central Park in Roseville just off of Bennett Lake in the section between County Roads B2 and C and Lexington Avenue and Victoria Street.

A large “rocket” sits near the parking lot of Central Park’s westernmost section, and only flies in the imaginations of children who play on it. If hunters continue from that lot, past the rocket, they’ll be on a general path toward the hiding spot. The line “Is this your time for celebration?” is a reference to Minnesota hockey coach Herb Brooks’ famous speech before the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s game against the Soviet Union: “This is your time,” he told the players. And if hunters started searching in the park adjacent to Brooks Avenue, it could be their time, too.

A reference to the most recent U.S. presidential election and the role Gen Z boys played in the results contains an anagram: the first word of each sentence – “He,” Oft,” Tale,” “Brokenness” – rearranged reveals “shores of bennett lake,” which are near this year’s hiding spot.

A manmade waterfall sits across Bennett Lake from the hiding spot of the medallion, which is ensconced amidst the ground litter down a hill from one of the park’s many benches. This one is red, unlike many in the park that are blue.

Since we’re near the end of the clues, we divulge the park that holds the prize – Central Park in Roseville. It’s a big park, so we try to rule out some of the main sections – the many ballfields, playgrounds and the Muriel Sahlin Arboretum, specifically. We go further and try to have hunters look near the trails – especially the “Thin Ice” signs that surround Bennett Lake. The prize is tucked very close to one.

We give our final directions, zeroing in on the medallion, telling hunters to head to a spot on the lakeside trail. There, a trail light sits below the terminus of Aglen Street and is our beacon to the hiding spot. Two large stumps sit just off the trail, one of the many “Thin Ice” signs in the park planted between them. By taking just a few steps off the trail, hunters can start rifling through the many pieces of bark on the ground, looking for the one that is attached to the puck.