Persistence pays off for Bashynski family in FLake Festival treasure hunt
Colleen Eddy of the Forest Lake Area Chamber of Commerce presents the Bashynski family of Forest Lake with a $500 check for winning the second-annual medallion hunt. The family includes Bart and Annie and their sons Marty, 9, and Cayden, 5. (Photo by Clint RIese)
Clint Riese
Staff Writer
The determination of a mother and the curiosity of her young son led to a $500 discovery last Wednesday.
Five-year-old Cayden Bashynski, with help from his brother and mother, unearthed the prize in the second-annual Forest Lake Area Chamber of Commerce/City of Forest Lake Park Department Medallion Hunt.
Following the daily clues, the Forest Lake family zoned in on Tower Park. Shortly after noon on Feb. 23, Cayden noticed a piece of plastic sticking out of a snowbank.
“I thought it was [another] clue,” he said.
In fact, the plastic corner was part of a sleeve which held the acrylic medallion.
“I saw it earlier but it looked like ice to me,” said Annie Bashynski, the tot’s proud mother.
Though Annie grew up as a regular participant in the St. Paul Winter Carnival Treasure Hunt, the Bashynskis did not take part in last winter’s hunt in Forest Lake. The outdoor fun of the Feb. 19 Winter Plunge during FLake Festival inspired them to give it a try this time around.
The trio discovered the medallion in these snow piles by the ice rink warming house in Tower Park. (Photo by Clint Riese)
On Monday, the contest’s third day, the family of four took advantage of the holiday and searched a handful of parks together. One stop was at Tower Park, where they dug around the sideboards of the hockey rinks.
Annie and Cayden continued the search on Tuesday at a few more parks and even researched at the library.
The key moment came Wednesday morning when they read the fifth clue. The rhyme referred to “a sport almost as old as ice and snow,” so the Bashynskis were certain of where the medallion resided.
“When this clue came out, we knew that it had to be the hockey rinks,” Annie said.
This time, Annie brought nine-year-old Marty for an extra pair of eyes and hands.
“We didn’t even let him go to school,” she laughed. “I said, ‘You can be late.’”
With close to 10 other hunters closing in on the treasure, the three made their way to the warming house. They had narrowed their search to the older of the two rinks. Eventually, they began excavating a tall snow pile that had been overlooked, perhaps because of its height.
Cayden made his discovery around 12:30 p.m., and it brought cheers from the other beleaguered hunters.
Other than tithing part of it to church, the Bashynskis were unsure what they would do with the prize money. Part may go to charity and some may help fund a cabin getaway this summer.
They are more certain about how much they enjoyed the medallion hunt.
“It was neat to do something different as a family,” Annie said. “We highly encourage others to do it as a family next year. It’s a wonderful event.”
Copyright 2011 Forest Lake Times.
