On Day 9, it seemed it might be down to four parks.
This year’s Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt has folks digging through all this snow at four St. Paul parks: Harriet Island, Como, Swede Hollow and Crosby Farm.
Tess McNamara was sure that the medallion worth $10,000, with partners Fury Jeep, was hidden at Harriet Island — “This is where the clues say it is,” she said Monday — but her twin, Tommy McNamara, was skeptical.
“The clues say it’s here, but they’re also saying it’s at three other parks,” he said. “We’re here because the crowds are, and that’s half the fun anyway.”
Tess acknowledged that the clues could fit other parks — and that hunters should be coalescing around one park by this time in the 12-clue hunt.
“This clue writer really enjoys finding the clues that fit multiple parks in beautiful ways,” Tess McNamara said. “It’s excellent and very frustrating at the same time.”
“Then again,” said Amanda Weissner, Tommy’s fiancee, “it it was found early because it’s too easy we’d all be upset as well.”
One good sign was a knot of past winners and other veterans at Harriet. One veteran said they had close calls a day earlier, after finding a slipper and what looked like a frozen sock that the medallion could be tucked into — referring to the “footfalls” from the first clue. “We all gathered around … and they ended up discovering (the sock) was an old used cast,” said Ed Brodie of Maplewood.
Chilly day to dig for the medallion — on a wide, snowy expanse at Harriet Island Regional Park #pphunt
Janel Carlson said she and her mother, Deb Carlson, both of Oakdale, homed in on Harriet Island “because it’s old school,” Janel said. “It incorporates the Winter Carnival, and the Super Bowl and the last time the ice castle was here.” The last time St. Paul built a giant ice palace was the other time the Super Bowl was played here, in 1992 — and it was right where they were, on a big stretch of lawn at Harriet Island, Deb Carlson said Monday.
The two were wearing their fleece hat bearing a patch reading “Mary’s Medallions,” which Janel’s grandmother, Mary Carlson, made for her and her four cousins, three aunts and her mom and dad, all who hunt. Mary Carlson is 91 and no longer hunts, “but she likes to noodle,” Janel Carlson said.
Lesley Tupy of St. Paul was out with her sons Marcus, 8, and Max, 6, hunting while the boys also sledded and snowboarded on a day off from Great River school in St. Paul.
“There’s usually really solid clues for where it is and now seems more vague,” she said, looking around at a dozen or so diggers in a wide expanse of parkland. Still, she said, she prefers a longer hunt. “And it gives us something to do on a day off,” she said.
Nearby, Makenzie McCormick was out with her children Colin, Keegan and Chloe, who had no school today in Stillwater. They were partially digging, partially playing on the playground. “It’s just nice that the sun is out,” Makenzie said.
At Como Park, a lone hunter was on a “scouting mission.” Mickey Pickett of Little Canada was prepared to hunt harder in Como or Swede Hollow, based on Monday night’s clues. He likes Como and Swede Hollow for their references to Hamm’s Brewery.
“It’s been a tricky hunt,” he said, adding that he and his fiancee had a “heartbeat” moment at Swede Hollow a day earlier, where they found a frozen bottle with a label they thought related to the clues. But still, on Day 9, he’s empty-handed.
“If you find it, it’s great, but the camaraderie — it’s just a cool event.”
Mickey Pickett of Little Canada tells why he is scouting an area in Como Park for the Pioneer Press treasure hunt medallion #pphunt
Copyright 2018 Pioneer Press.
