2023 Northfield Winter Walk Snowflake Hunt

The song Silver Bells was chosen for the hunt this year because silver is the color that represents a 25th anniversary, which is the anniversary Winter Walk is celebrating this year. The ornament is made of three bells linked together, which ended up being coincidence, but works perfectly as there are three upcoming links to the Mill Towns Trail that Northfield will be completing over the next three years!

Brisk cold winters, gristy white stuff
Winters in MN are cold and snowy, but the clue is not talking about the fluffy white stuff. Instead, gristy white stuff is mentioned as a hint to flower and milling. A gristmill, which can also be known as a flour mill, grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. This is the first clue directing hunters to focus on the Mill Towns Trail.
Spread from city to town
Towns sprung up around the many mills built in MN. The Mill Towns Trail was named after those mills in our area. The trail will be an important link in the southeastern trail system, connecting Sakatah Singing Hills State Trail with the Cannon Valley Trail. Those trails run through Mankato, Eagle Lake, Madison Lake, Elysian, Waterville, Morristown, Faribault (Sakatha), Dundas, Northfield, Waterford, Randolph, Cannon Falls (Mill Towns), and Cannon Falls, Welch, and Red Wing (Cannon Valley). The mills and the trails spread from city to town.
Oh the route through our main street is bustling
Division Street is bustling during Winter Walk, but so too was Northfield when the mill was erected. It brought wheat farmers to the region, and fueled the economy and development of Northfield.
It’s been years an, anniversary
Winter Walk is celebrating an anniversary….and so too is the Mill Towns Trail section from Dundas to Northfield.
Twenty-five to be right
Winter Walk is in its 25th year. The trail on the west side of the Cannon River running from Dundas to Northfield was built in 1998, twenty-five years ago as well!
And at every store fro-ont you see
This clue refers to Winter Walk, and all the businesses that are involved.
Silver deals, Silver steals
Stores have all kinds of deals and steals during Winter Walk
There’s cocoa hot on the corner
What would Winter Walk be without hot cocoa!
Reindeer Rides, Santa Clause
Winter Walk has provided reindeer rides and photos with Santa over the years.
To-ge-ther we can be one
Winter Walk brings the community together, something the Mill Towns Trail is aiming for…so all the towns and communities can be linked together.

Lum-in-a-ries, leave a trail that
Winter Walk is complete with luminaries along the sidewalk, creating somewhat of a trail. This is the first clue to “trail.” This also refers to the many people that have lit the way and left their own mark on getting the Mill Towns Trail connected.
Light our walkways at night
Winter Walk luminaries light up our sidewalks at night. The ornament was hidden just off of the “walkway,” in Riverside Lions Park, flanked by lights.
And you shoppers rush home with your goodies
The Farmer’s Market takes place at Riverside, and is a place where people can pick up their goodies each week.
Spending muni, while we’re bonding
We spend money and bond with each other at Winter Walk…. AND….Northfield received 8.2 million in bonding dollars to help with the Mill Towns Trail land acquisition, predesign, design, and construction of the Mill Towns Trail between Riverside Park and the Waterford Historic Bridge. “Muni” is short for a municipal bond, which is a debt security issued by states, cities, countries, and other governmental entities.
Twenty-five years too long
The section of trail connecting Dundas to Northfield was built 25 years ago….and it’s been too long a wait for more connections to be made.
But above all the vision lives on
The vision for the Mill Towns Trail connection continues to gain momentum.
Silver steels, silver deels
Keeping with the silver theme…then “steels” is a reference to the material from which railroads are made. The Mill Towns Trail, for the most part, lies on top of an old railroad track that was operated by The Union Pacific Railroad and the Progressive Railroad after being abandoned in the 1970’s. A “deel” is a word that can mean “something which, together with other things, makes a whole.” The Mill Towns Trail is in pieces, but when linked together, will be one piece; a whole.
This place not lacking a quandary
The Riverfront Enhancement Plan includes Riverside Lions, and there is much to be decided about the park's use and its development in the future, which has been a quandary. Getting yourself into a pickle can also be considered being in a quandary. Riverside Lions is a very popular place to play pickleball in Northfield…another reference to the park.
Roll along, stroll along
A reference to the things you can do on a trail (roll on your bike, stroll as you walk)
To-ge-ther we can be whole
Many towns will be linked together by the Mill Towns Trail, and will make a whole trail, rather than segments of trail.

Start and stopping, interrupting
The Mill Towns Trail starts and stops and has interruptions to it. It’s not a fluid trail.
Just can’t go but three miles
The trail from Dundas to Northfield is only 3 miles
And it’s time we the people get mileage
This references that there is more mileage to the trail coming
Add a section, get it roaring
Northfield has a plan to construct three separate sections/links over the next three years, starting with the first section at Riverside Lions park. The roaring term gives a clue to what park the ornament is hiding, Riverside LIONS. Lions roar.
Twenty-Five is the goal
The Mill Towns Trail will be approx. 25 miles when completed (between Faribault and Cannon Falls)
Co-ome o-one come a-all, you’ll see
The Lions Club, though they volunteer and assist with a number of community projects, is best known for fighting blindness. The club helps to conduct vision screenings, equips hospitals and clinics by distributing medicine, and raises awareness of eye disease. Their mission is to provide vision for all, and to eradicate blindness. The clue means that whoever wants sight, will have sight…if they come to Riverside Lions Park.
Silver Meg, Silver Peg
Northfield Locals, Peggy Prowe and Meg Otten, have been working toward Northfield’s link in the Mill Towns Trail connection for over 30 years.
Look what you’ve done for connections
Peggy and Meg were instrumental in the trail connection from Dundas to Northfield 25 years ago, and are just as involved in the next few links Northfield has planned in 2024, 2025, and 2026.
Mill around, bells abound
This clue points to the “Mill” Towns Trail again, and references the ornament as bells, which matches the clues with the song “Silver Bells.”
To-geth-er we will be linked
The first section is set to be completed the summer of 2024 and will link with the trail in Riverside Lions to the newly constructed 246 round-a-bout. It’s the first of three links planned. The ornament was placed a few feet north of where the first link will connect to the current trail in Riverside Lions Park.

Busy highway, flooding river
The park is along Hwy 3. The river often floods Riverside Lions Park
What a po-p-lar club
Riverside Lions is surrounded one one side by Poplar Street. Club refers to the Lions Club again, who has donated money to the park over the years, recently purchasing the new purple playground equipment.
And a Village that welcomes the Pickler
Village on the Cannon borders the park. The pickleball courts are located in the park.
See the burch boy, near the three trees
A “Burch Boy” is a British term or boy’s name for one who lives by the birch tree. Burch is directing hunters to the birch trees in the park. There are three of them clumped together, right near where the first section of trail will be added.
Eating white Christmas bark
In case someone hasn’t caught on, “white” and “bark” are other cues, helping hunters to the birch trees.
From the top of the T he looks North
The current trail emerges from the Hwy 3 bridge, and heads along Riverside Park and into town. A tail from off of that trail runs along Riverside Lions Park, and past Veterans Memorial Park (creating a T). At the top of the T, look North….or the ornament is on the North side of the trail.
Silver bells, silver bells
The hunter is indeed looking for silver bells. They are in a string of three (just like the three trail links, and the three birch trees that helped direct hunters to their resting place). Extra note: Did you know that “Silver Bells” was originally written about the Salvation Army’s ringing of bells during the holiday season?
There in the midst of rocky rubble
The bell ornament is lying among the pile of rocks.
Near the wet, but stay dry
The ornament is near the water, but hunters do not need to get wet to retrieve it.
Soon silver bells will be found
There is no other place to look, but in the rocks, and soon, a hunter will find the silver bells.
Melissa Bernhard