Cooler Crew
Have a Successful St Paul Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt
History
Back in 1885, a New York reporter noted that St Paul was “another Siberia, unfit for human habitation”. This gave birth to the novel idea for a celebration of our wintry clime. Families and communities came together to participate in the St Paul Winter Carnival; a tradition that continues today, over 120 years later as the coolest celebration on earth.
The Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt began in 1952, where “hidden in Boreas' rollicking realm, lay his treasure.” A small treasure chest made of wood, with the instructions on how to claim the prize inside. Arthur M. Jensen found this treasure in Highland Park on the 11th clue, which told of two tree stumps to the west. With his big $1000 win, his wife splurged and bought herself a new hat!
There are a few things that you can do to ensure that you have a successful medallion hunt as well. Maybe you won't win the prize, but you can share in the magic of family and tradition that the St Paul Winter Carnival brings to us each year.
The Fun Part
“It is time again, to pick up a pen
and delve into the clues mysteries.
Grab yourself a chair, but you must beware
the clues are full of trickeries.
The time is near for you, my dear
to bundle up and bring your luck
the hunt has begun, now have some fun
and bring home the cherished puck!”
The clues are mesmerizing as clever little poems. Take the above “clue” as an example. At first glance, it is telling you that the clues are tricky and that the hunt has begun. But that's no fun, the cluewriter needs to make sure that only those who put forth a little effort can find this. What fun would it be if you were just given directions, and had to foot race 2,000 people to the location?
Digging deeper into the above clue, you have a few different possibilities. “Chair” could represent something that the medallion is near, or attached to. It could also be a reference point for another clue, if it means anything at all. “Trickeries” could be just that, the clues are hard to figure out due to deception, or it may point to the magic shop across the street from the medallions location. “The time is near” may refer to a large clock nearby, but for sure, “the cherished little puck” means the medallion. Right? Or is it referring to the park having a hockey rink?
It is easy to confuse yourself and get caught up in the clues thinking that every word has meaning. This happens every year when a newbie comes along and deciphers every word in the first clue to give the entire directions and location to the medallions location. There may be more to the first clue than some have realized, 15 times since 1952 there has been more information in the first clue than just general information or if it is in St Paul or not.
Bring the family together on this. Call up some of your friends, meet for dinner and discuss the clues. The most enjoyable part of the medallion hunt for many is the opportunity to spend a lot of time with their family and friends. There is a closeness that develops when you really get into the deciphering. Consider this, you are decoding the map to a treasure of $10,000, and you are trusting your family and friends to not leave you in the dust and find it for themselves. You are doing more than just spending time with your friends, you are building trust with them as well.
So you think you've figured out tonights clue. You run out the door because you know the exact location of the puck and you are going to just reach down and pick it up. Wrong. Don't be the guy who runs out in the middle of the woods when it is -17 degrees outside with just a windbreaker and tennis shoes. You can die or become seriously injured from the cold. Stop and bundle up. You will be out there longer than you think.
If there is any snow at all you are not going to move it with just your hands. You will need a tool of some sort. Hoes are very popular this time of year, as are garden rakes and shovels. Remember the saying, “search, don't destroy”, as it cannot be said enough. You just want to move the snow, weeds, or whatever. Do not dig into the ground; on that note, do not climb up trees either. The medallion will be within easy reach for the average individual. It has been that way for over 55 years. A 3 inch piece of Lucite hidden within 170 square miles doesn't need to be hidden too hard at all. Hunters will be spread out among many parks throughout the county. If you get close enough to find it, and you are a persistent digger with a keen eye, you will find it. Maybe.
Take your kids out with you and build a family tradition that they can carry over to their kids. This is a great opportunity to be an active part of their lives. My Grandpa, Larry Graber, found the Dispatch-Pioneer Press Treasure Chest in 1954 at Hidden Falls Park, the 4th hunt ever. Imagine what goes through my mind as I think I am very close to finding the medallion! It is an amazing closeness to him that I can share even though he moved to Calvary Cemetery back in 2001.
Whatever it is that you do during the medallion hunt, do it safely, do it responsibly, and have fun doing it. So suit up, head out and enjoy the coolest celebration on earth!
How to Find the Saint Paul Winter Carnival Medallion
The time has come where Vulcanus Rex attempts to unseat King Boreas from his wintry throne and bring the promise of spring once again. It is also the time of the year where the web-weaving muse hides the ultimate winter treasure somewhere in Ramsey County. Want to increase your odds at finding it?
Difficulty: Challenging
Instructions
Things You''ll Need:
- The proper maps
- Warm clothing
- "Digging" tools
- Clues
- Portable light
- Sustenance
- Truckload of luck
- Step 1
Prepare yourself before the Winter Carnival
Read up on past clues and get a feel for what you are up against. Get a feel for how the Cluewriter hides not only the medallion, but the clues within the clues.
Prepare in other local treasure hunts. Many suburban cities host treasure hunts in the off season. These are a great way to hone your skills as a true "puckhead". - Step 2
Read the Official Rules
Go to Twincities.com and read the official rules. To paraphrase - The medallion will only be on public property within the limits of Ramsey County. Search, don''t destroy. You will not have to dig up the ground, climb up trees, or damage any property to find the medallion. Doing so will cause the hunt to be cancelled and the $10,000 to be forfeited. Collect the clues from the daily Pioneer Press paper, find the medallion, and turn it in to the Pioneer Pres Building. - Step 3
Register your button
You can either register the button online or by mail. If registering online, clicking the send button after filling in your information registers the button. If mailing in, be sure to have it postmarked prior to the first clues official release. - Step 4
Make sure that you have warm clothes
This is Minnesota in January folks, I don''t think I need to remind you that you will likely be searching in weather ranging from -25 through 30 degrees. Layering is very important. It takes a lot of effort to swing a rake for 14 hours a day, you will be sweating in below zero temperatures. What a wonderful state! - Step 5
Get your digging tools ready
Every hunter has their favorite tool for different environments. I like to use a childs garden rake for light snow, and in weedy areas. It doesn''t have the weight that larger tools have, which is why I prefer a garden hoe for the harder, icier, and deeper snows. An actual shovel is many a hunters best friend 12 days of the year, just remember to never allow it to sink into the ground. Remember, search don''t destroy.
Bring some kind of light source should you be obsessing until dark. It gets icy and can be dangerous to travel if you can''t see where you are going. - Step 6
Get a clue
You need to have the clues. How will you know where to dig if you don''t have a clue? You can get the clues online at Twincities.com, on your doorstep in the morning, or my personal favorite - waiting in line the night before the papers release. The doors are usually open between 11 pm and midnight. Not only do you get to hunt right away, but you can meet other hunters and share your ideas on where the medallion is. - Step 7
Decipher the clues
You could write a book on this. Really. First, look at the clues literally. Is there anything it is trying to tell you? Usually you will have to dissect it to get to the heart and soul of the clue. Are there anagrams hidden in the clue? Do any of the words in the clues have any other or archaic meanings? Does a phrase hint to something that ties to a park? - Step 8
Get out there and dig
You will never find the medallion from your computer chair. It is hard to stumble upon it if you stay in your car. Don''t worry about feeling silly, there are thousands each year looking just like you. And someone is going to find the medallion. Ask a previous finder if the $10,000 was worth feeling a little silly poking around in a snowbank with a hockey stick. - Step 9
Rejoice when the hunt is over
Either you found it or you didn''t. In the end it really doesn''t matter. The money, your picture in the paper, the free sweatshirt, and the ride in the parade will be just fleeting memories compared to the bonds made with other dedicated hunters. Given the chance, your obsession will spread and you will meet like-minded people doing things just as silly as you. Buying a $75 hoe just for the hunt, taking time off of work to hunt, memorizing the clues of years past.
Think hard, and dig harder.
You dig?
Tips & Warnings
- Archived clues can be found at coolercrew.com
- Official rules and Clues are found at twincities.com
- If you can find a copy of the Treasure Hunters Guide, or the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt History book, they will help out tremendously in having park maps and previous clues at your fingertips.
- Stay on public property
- Search, don''t destroy
- Be careful on icy slopes. Remember that paths compacted with footprints become very slippery
'Cooler Crew' comes to aid of widow
Body
Nicole Evenson, center, gets a hug from Cooler Crew member, Randy Rust, who’s with other Cooler Crew members, Ken Ng, left, and Mike McMahon, right, b
By MOLLY GUTHREY | mguthrey@pioneerpress.com | Pioneer PressPUBLISHED: January 9, 2010 at 11:01 p.m. | UPDATED: November 11, 2015 at 4:14 p.m.The Cool
Nightly Pre-Clue Gatherings
Before each night's clue comes out, many members of the Cooler Crew get together in downtown Saint Paul as a way to wind down at the end of a long day of digging, and to recover some strength for the night of digging that often follows the release of later clues. These get-togethers will either be at Wild Tymes or at the Bulldog in Lowertown. Stay tuned to the forums at ableminds for details of each night's gathering.
The Clue Master Status Report
As many of you are aware, Clue Master is in the hospital, with surgery scheduled for Friday, 8/8/08 (hey, crazy eights. Gotta be a lucky day) to replace a heart valve.
For the $0.25 version of what's happened, last Wednesday he was in so much back pain he couldn't get out of bed. He went in to Woodwinds on Thursday where they did a full-body image set of him, and discovered something "fuzzy" in his bone marrow. Initially this was diagnosed as Leukemia, but the oncologist later corrected it saying that the rest of the symptoms weren't consistent with the GP's diagnosis; bone marrow tests would be required. After some more work, they determined he has a bacterial infection that's settled in his bone marrow, lungs, and heart.
The infection resulted from a previously undiagnosed prolapse heart valve, combined with dental work 6 months ago. The result is that the infection has eaten away at the valve to the point where he needs it replaced.
For updates, check out CM's family's web site. To send your well-wishes, check out the thread at AbleMinds. He's in there a lot from the hospital and responding to posts.
Cooler Crew -- A History
During the 1990’s, the St Paul Pioneer Press opened online discussion forums. These forums were called Water Coolers. The forums had discussion topics related to sports, politics, news, and current events. Each year, the Pioneer Planet – the online section of the Pioneer Press – opened a discussion forum as a media for hunters to discuss the clues for the Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt.
During the earlier years, one might find a few hundred posts during the hunt. As more hunters had computers, those numbers jumped. From 1997 to 1998, the number of posts increased from the hundreds to the 5-digit thousands. It was during the 1998 hunt the Cooler Crew was born.
The community spirit and teamwork displayed in the 1998 Pioneer Press Medallion Hunt thread was inspiring. The group of hunters found themselves at the end of a hunt not wanting to let go of new friendships and the camaraderie found on the Water Cooler board. The idea emerged to do what anyone would do in the middle of winter in Minnesota. A picnic in Cherokee was planned - the first Rehash Bash!
Among the potato salad, sloppy Joe medallions, coffee and desserts, the Pioneer Planet Water Cooler Crew met face to face on a chilly, Sunday, February afternoon. Representatives from the Pioneer Planet were there to record this phenomenon and Greg Sax, a native St. Paulite, then residing in Milwaukee, arranged to have the first “You Dig?” buttons available.
This group then decided it should have a website of its own. The Pioneer Planet agreed to sponsor a website, Greg Sax agreed to volunteer his time as webmaster and all that was now needed was a URL for this new site! After much discussion, a decision was reached. coolercrew.com would be the site and this online community would be known as the Cooler Crew!
The rest of the history can be found woven among each year’s clues, images and stories at this website.
In 2002, Knight-Ridder, the owners of the Pioneer Press, decided to change the format and get rid of the discussion forums that had brought this group of hunters together. At that same time, the sponsoring of the website was dropped. The Water Coolers were gone.
But the spirit of the Cooler Crew was bigger than Knight-Ridder. A new place for online discussions was found and a new home for the coolercrew.com site was arranged. Once we had the release of the domain name, the new webmasters, Ares, Marley King and Artemis the Huntress, put the website back online. Knight-Ridder took the Water Cooler away, but did not take the Cooler out of the Crew.
The Cooler Crew is an online community made up of super folks with a commonality that involves digging in parks in the dead of the winter and because we have this obsession in common, we find other parts of us that have commonality too. We believe that anyone who hunts is part of the Cooler Crew. It has been our founding principal to welcome one and all. We have always invited anyone with this obsession of digging in snow in the middle of winter to join with other hunters. The friendships and camaraderie we find is the best! Please join us! You will be welcomed with open arms.
We are lucky to have found a webmaster who is passionate about the hunt and has worked tirelessly to keep content up to date and in a format that is user friendly. If you haven't explored the vast amount of information, hunt history and year round activities and hunts, take the time to do so. It is truly amazing!! Jason has shouldered the cost of this for many years as a labor of love. It is time to step up and help defray the cost of his work, the cost of running all the equipment needed to keep the site running and backed up, his expertise, and his time.
Alas, the Winter Carnival hunt lasts for a mere 12 days of the year. As we've grown, so has our passion for medallion hunts in general. After the short hunt in 2002, we had two years’ worth of mock hunt after mock hunt, with prize money put up by members of the group. Around 2004, we really started to get involved with the hunts organized by the various suburban festivals that occur over the summer. We track 115 festival hunts apart from the Winter Carnival hunt that occur throughout the year in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. We're adding more all the time. And we participate in the vast majority of them, as is evidenced by the Hall of Fame.
If you know of a hunt that we don't have on our list, it’s not a question of whether or not we should have it. We should. Period. We'd love it if you could help us out. If there's a hunt that we do have and we don't have clues for it for any given year, we'd also love it if you could help us out. Click the contact us link at the bottom of this page or any other page on this site!