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2019 Hugo Golden Spike Hunt

Submitted by Administrator on

The Golden Spike is back in a Hugo city park, just in time for summer! Please note: the hunt officially begins at 8 a.m. Thursday, June 6, with the online posting of Clue #4. Hope your family joins in on the fun!

OFFICIAL RULES: 

  • The first three treasure hunt clues are published in The Citizen’s May 23 edition, on our website (www.readthecitizen.com) and in the 2019 Good Neighbor Days tab, inserted in thousands of area newspapers. These clues are informational in nature only. The hunt officially begins at 8 a.m. Thursday, June 6, with the posting of Clue #4, and not before.

  • A new clue will be posted on The Citizen’s website (www.readthecitizen.com) during Good Neighbor Days, two times daily Thursday through Saturday, June 6-8, one at approximately 8 a.m. and one at approximately 5 p.m. each day. The final clue will be posted at approximately 8 a.m. Sunday, June 9. (If you’re parked on our website, don’t forget to hit the refresh button to update the page!) 

  • The Citizen reserves the right to discontinue the hunt at any time if public property is destroyed. Shovels are not needed to find Spike.

  • If you find the Golden Spike, immediately call the Spike Hotline (651-407-1209) to report where it was found and to qualify for a $100 instant cash prize. The Citizen will also award an additional $500 in cash to the Spike finder. No purchase is necessary to win, nor is it necessary to complete a “Golden Ticket” to win the cash prizes.

  • The Citizen will also award $75 in gift cards or certificates good at area businesses to the Spike finder if he/she has a completed “Golden Ticket” form officially stamped by all of the individual sponsors of the 2019 Hunt for the Golden Spike. Copies of the Golden Ticket forms may be clipped from the May 23 edition of The Citizen, from the Good Neighbor Days tab, or downloaded from The Citizen’s website (www.readthecitizen.com).

Official sponsors are: City of Hugo, 14669 Fitzgerald Ave. N, Hugo; Hawaiian Tan (Hugo or Forest Lake) 14643 Mercantile Dr. N, Suite 107, Hugo, or 1500 Lake St. S., Forest Lake; Hugo American Legion, 5383 140th St. N., Hugo; Hugo Equipment Company,13997 Forest Blvd. N., Hugo; and Wiseguys Pizza & Pub, 7095 20th Ave., Centerville.

  • If Spike is not found by noon on Sunday, June 9, all prize money and gift certificates will be donated to the Hugo Good Neighbors Food Shelf.

  • The completed Golden Ticket must be submitted to hunt organizers no later than 5 p.m. Sunday, June 9 and at the same time the instant cash prize is awarded. Late Golden Tickets will not be accepted.

  • If the Spike finder does not have a completed Golden Ticket, the gift certificates will be donated to the Hugo Good Neighbors Food Shelf.

  • 2019 Spike hunt maps are available from official sponsors while supplies last, and a digital copy may be found on The Citizen’s website. PLEASE NOTE: Spike is NOT hidden on private property.

  • All contestants agree that The Citizen, Press Publications, the Hugo Lions Club and their respective affiliate companies, parents, subsidiaries, advertising representatives and agents will have no liability whatsoever, and will be held harmless by contestants of any injuries, losses or damages of any kind resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of the prizes or participation in this contest.

  • Except where legally prohibited, by accepting the prize the winner grants permission for The Citizen, Press Publications and those acting under its authority to use his or her name, photograph and/or likeness for advertising and/or publicity.

  • All contest rules and decisions are final.

  • Employees of Press Publications and their immediate family members are not eligible to win.

  • For a list of winners, write to The Citizen, 4779 Bloom Ave., White Bear Lake, MN 55110 and enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope

Hunt Information
Dates
Scheduled Dates
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Find Date
Saturday, June 8, 2019
Finders
Name
Matt Smith
Prize
Maximum Prize
$600 + $75 in gift certificates
Awarded Prize
$600
Location
General Location
Frog Hollow Park
Pinpointed Location
The bluebird house at the south end of the park
Concealer
Wrapped in green florists tape

45.177398, -92.994632

Clues
Clue 1
Published Date
Wednesday, May 22, 2019, 7:00 PM
Good Neighbor Days is almost here!
That festival we all hold dear
Marks summer's start each passing year
Through cold and snow and rain and wind,
Spring's damp grip has slipped again
And as the month of May adjourns,
The Hunt for the Golden Spike returns!
Clue Rating
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Clue 2
Published Date
Wednesday, May 22, 2019, 7:00 PM
Spike is very likely hidden
Where bicycles are often ridden
Or somewhere in a park.
See all eighteen; you'll have a lark!
Clue Rating
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Clue 3
Published Date
Wednesday, May 22, 2019, 7:00 PM
Treasure hunts all have their rules;
This one bans all shovels and tools
And sets forth this one demand:
Confine your search to public land.
So, if you venture out to look,
You're asked to play it "by the book."
Clue Rating
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Clue 4
Published Date
Wednesday, June 5, 2019, 7:00 PM
Thirty-six square miles are Hugo’s measure —
A snag, when hunting hidden treasure.
Trails and open space to play in —
Smart Spike hunters use maps to weigh in.
(Some show boundaries to stay in!
20/20’s better than hindsight.
Check out Hugo’s city website!2)

2 Pick up your official Hunt for the Golden Spike map at sponsors’ places of business while supplies last, or download one from www.readthecitizen.com; additional excellent maps are available at www.ci.hugo.mn.us.
The official meaning of the clue.
A broad hint that it would be a good idea to peruse Hugo’s city maps, which are posted on the city’s website. These maps show property boundaries fairly clearly, including parts of city parks that are not manicured and are left as simple open space. This was important this year.
Clue Rating
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Clue 5
Published Date
Wednesday, June 5, 2019, 7:00 PM
Only at Hugo’s annual bash
Can you change a gold peg into cash.
Years past, a train ran right through town.
The Spike hunt brings that history ‘round.
The official meaning of the clue.
References “a train ran right through town,” is a tip of the hat to Frog Hollow Park’s location near the old rail line along Highway 61, now a county regional bike trail.
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Clue 6
Published Date
Thursday, June 6, 2019, 7:00 PM
One by one, each clue apprises.
A careful hunter synthesizes,
On a single-minded mission:
To leap past the competition.
Who’ll find ‘Ol Spike, take home the green
For GND 2019?
The official meaning of the clue.
Suggests the hunter should “leap past the competition” to “bring home the green”: references to frogs that become even more clear when paired with Clue No. 7
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Clue 7
Published Date
Thursday, June 6, 2019, 7:00 PM
Calaveras County’s ties
To where the Golden Spike now lies
Are noted here. But there’s no need
For soggy feet. Are we agreed?
And on one point we must expound:
Keep your quest on public ground.
The official meaning of the clue.
“Calaveras County” was the setting of Mark Twain’s famous 1865 short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” For those who never read this masterpiece, the connection could be found online with a single (persistent) search.
Clue Rating
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Clue 8
Published Date
Friday, June 7, 2019, 7:00 PM
Consider the product, six by nine
And double naught: you’ll do just fine.
But if this quest throws you some shade,
Check out a pretty southern glade.
The official meaning of the clue.
The product of 6 and 9 is 54, which, when two zeroes (double naught) are appended, is the address block number indicated on the street sign near Spike’s hiding place on the south end of the park in a “pretty southern glade.”
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Clue 9
Published Date
Friday, June 7, 2019, 7:00 PM
Rough winds did shake the buds of May,
The park where children like to play,
And the bogs of Family Ranidae.
Now Finley Bay helps point the way
To where Spike lies concealed, unseen
Sheltered in a white birch screen.
The official meaning of the clue.
“Rough winds did shake the buds of May” is a tweak on one of Shakespeare’s famous sonnets (No. 18) and refers to the May 2008 tornado that devastated the neighborhood in which Spike was hidden. “Family Ranidae” refers specifically to the taxonomic classification of frogs. “Finley Bay” is a cul-de-sac northeast of Spike’s hiding place that on city maps generally points to the location of the park where Spike was hidden (in case at that point searchers were looking around the playground to the north).
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Clue 10
South of the playground the bluebird flies
Within park limits. What a surprise!
Our Spike is hidden in disguise.
In Frog Hollow Park, you’ll find your mark.
Near three birches in a stand
A careful searcher will have Spike in hand.
The official meaning of the clue.
Mentions the bluebird house on the southern end of the park as well as the three birches near where Spike was hidden wrapped in green florist’s tape under some leaves.
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