North Branch friends Sarah Hadro and Bret Rasmussen find the Winter Fest medallion
For the past five years, they searched high and low and in the cold snow but never to avail. This year felt different, though, for these good friends from North
Branch who have only come close, sadly close to finding the coveted
medallion.
By Jon Tatting
For the past five years, they searched high and low and in the cold snow but never to avail.
This year felt different, though, for these good friends from North Branch who have only come close, sadly close to finding the coveted medallion.
“We told ourselves, ‘This is our year.’ We could feel it,” said Sarah Hadro of her and Bret Rasmussen’s ambitions heading into the hunt earlier this week.
Sarah Hadro and Bret Rasmussen display the North Branch Winter Fest Medallion, which they found—only after the second clue—wrapped in a pocket Bible on the Sunrise Prairie Trail. Photos by Jon Tatting
On Thursday morning, just the second day into the hunt, Hadro and Rasmussen became the $500 winners of the 10th Annual North Branch Winter Fest Medallion Hunt, organized by the North Branch Area Chamber of Commerce.
They recalled how they discovered the medallion during a special recognition gathering Feb. 12 at the chamber office.
Bret noted he received the first clue on Wednesday morning when he and Sarah began to think of places to hunt. With the second clue in hand the next morning, they decided to go out for breakfast before starting on their journey.
They were not in a hurry.
The clues took Sarah and Bret to the Sunrise Prairie Trail, in eye-shot of the grain silos and across from St. Gregory the Great church on Forest Blvd.
Sarah said they were not the first to check out the site, since she noticed footprints in the snow. Drawn to a certain pine tree just off the trail, at around 11:15 a.m., she found what she and Bret had been looking for since they began hunting five or six years ago.
The medallion had been wrapped tightly in a simple plastic bag within a pocket Bible. Also included were sheets of paper containing all five clues as well as a personal message from the medallion’s “hider,” whose identity is kept a mystery.
At right: Congratulations to North Branch residents and friends Sarah Hadro and Bret Rasmussen (middle) for finding this year’s North Branch Winter Fest Medallion. They are pictured with Jaye Kruckeberg, store manager of Shopko, which sponsored the event, and Arlys Walberg, promotions coordinator for the North Branch Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We were jumping up and down and freaking out,” said Sarah, smiling inside the chamber office. “It was really ironic, so surreal to finally find it. And it meant a lot to find it with Bret.”
“It took us longer to open the package than to actually search for it,” joked Bret of the tape used to secure the medallion.
— To view all the clues in the North Branch Winter Fest Medallion Hunt, go to www.northbranchchamber.com
Copyright 2010 North Branch Post Review.