2024 Inver Grove Heights Days Medallion Hunt

The introduction contains the words "indeed," "tricks," "Nick," "Herb," and "locker" and is intended to suggest Washington Irving's character (and "well known Dutch historian") Diedrich Knickberbocker—who in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is responsible for uncovering the story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. This is in turn intended to suggest Sleepy Hollow Park, and its network of trails to the west—where the MacGuffin was hidden.

Forty small, foam jack-o'-lantern stress balls (numbered 1-40) were hidden along the trails to the west of Sleepy Hollow; they led from every nearby trail entrance—placed at roughly 100-foot intervals—to the MacGuffin, which was hidden near the center of the network of trails.

The first clue contains the word "path," in reference to the MacGuffin's hiding spot along a small path to the north of a pond and along a small brook, to the south of College Trail, and its position along a trail to the west of Sleepy Hollow Park; the word "path" also suggests the many "Trail"- and "Path"-named roads in the area surrounding the hiding spot. The phrase "spacious cove" is a reference to the opening line of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: "In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson […];" the phrase "Piecing the puzzle, unravel the plot" is meant to reinforce the Sleepy Hollow theme.

In the second clue, the phrase "let the story unfold"—along with the words "noodle" and "tricks"—is evocative of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The clue also describes the hiding spot, in "the wood, among leaves and sticks," on "the trails" west of Sleepy Hollow Park.

In the third clue, the phrase "lose your gourd"—along with the words "haunt" and "carving"—is meant to suggest the continuing Sleepy Hollow theme, while the phrases "track down the trail where it lies" and "carving your way to the prize" are meant to suggest the puck is hidden not in Sleepy Hollow Park proper, but along an adjoining trail.

The fourth clue reinforces the Sleepy Hollow theme and directs hunters south of College Trail to a small, worn foot path off the main, paved route. The tunnel beneath College Trail contained a nifty Easter Egg: one of Chris Nichols' "Nature Neighbors" mural characters has unfortunately "lost their gourd" thanks to vandalism, and has been painted over—from the neck up.

The fifth clue references (and names) Sleepy Hollow and instructs hunters to search "beyond the park" "on the trails;” it references the jack-o-lantern trail confirm and suggests Wayne Newton—whose first name is "Carson”—points to the hiding spot (i.e. Carson Court); and finally pinpoints its "creekside" "between the ponds," at the base of two birch trees across the path from a "green" manhole marker "stake."