Farmington resident Haley Pacholl and Rosemount’s Holste sisters share in the prize
Haley Pacholl wants to someday work in law enforcement, possibly analyzing forensic evidence to solve crimes.
The Farmington resident – a second year North Dakota State University criminal justice student – put her inclination to “overanalyze everything” to good use as she found the Leprechaun’s Lost Medallion on the third day of the annual hunt that’s part of Rosemount Leprechaun Days.
Pacholl said she was thinking about the first two clues Tuesday night and when she saw the third clue Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. she directed her hunting crew – the Holste girls, Alyssa, 10, Sara, 7, and Julia, 4 – to Schwarz Pond Park.
She said once they drove past Rosemount Cemetery, she thought about the phrase “past stones” in the second clue.
Pacholl said there were no other hunters in the park when they arrived about 9:10 a.m.
“Then we saw the fence that was in clue two,” Pacholl said. She also thought “hover” from clue two could have been a reference to skateboarding and the skate park that was bounded by the fence.
“I told them: ‘Guys, I think we are about to find it,’ ” Pacholl said.
She took a seat on the picnic bench outside the skate park and walked “straight east” as clue three directed.
“My foot got caught in a hole,” she said. “I looked down and saw the medallion.”
She said she screamed for her “nanny kids,” and they came running over when the hooting and hollering began … along with a lot of hugs.
“I’m usually a super hard thinker,” Pacholl said. “I overanalyze everything. I’m really glad I did this time.”
For finding the medallion, Pacholl and the Holstes are splitting a $250 Visa gift card from Merchants Bank and a gift package from the Dakota County Tribune and Sun Thisweek. The prize pack, valued at $250, included tickets to the St. Paul Saints, Nickelodeon World and the Minnesota Zoo.
Pacholl said the first two days of the hunt, they were looking for the medallion in Central Park thinking “nucleus” was a hint.
On day two, they were looking around Brockway Park where there is a frisbee golf course and could have been the location based on “disc.” They also searched the playground area around Schwarz Pond Park.
Email Tad Johnson at tad.johnson@ecm-inc.com. Follow him on Twitter @editorTJ.
Copyright 2016 Sun This Week/Hometown Source/Adams Publishing Group.