A brother and sister from Wisconsin found the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt medallion shortly after midnight today, winning themselves the full $10,000 in prize money.
It was the second year that Andrew Burke, a 21-year-old college student from Knapp, Wis., and his sister Jessica French, 26, of Baldwin, Wis., took part in the Treasure Hunt.
The medallion was found in St. Paul’s Indian Mounds Regional Park under a fallen tree. It was concealed in a 3M Highland Invisible Tape carton and wrapped in plastic. As soon as he found the box, Burke said, he knew he had the medallion. He quickly spirited the box out of the park, past hundreds of others searching in the night, following the publication of the 11th clue in the 12-clue St. Paul Winter Carnival tradition.
“Excited, stoked” was how Burke described himself right after Pioneer Press officials confirmed the medallion to be authentic. Because they had a registered Winter Carnival button and all the previously published clues, they claimed the full $10,000 prize as well as $1,200 in groceries from Cub Foods.
The pair typically began searching at 9 p.m. each evening and would spend six to eight hours hunting.
The clues published each day in the Pioneer Press weren’t always clear, he said.
“A lot of clues still don’t make a lot of sense to me,” Burke said.
Despite wind-chill temperatures plunging to 40 below zero, hundreds of people were in Indian Mounds park searching late Tuesday and early Wednesday morning, Burke said.
A freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Burke said he can use the money to help pay for his education. He is studying hotel, restaurant and tourism management.
This year marks the 57th year of the annual Treasure Hunt.
Look for updates on the Treasure Hunt at twincities.com later this morning.
Copyright 2008 Pioneer Press.