The annual Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt kicked off over the weekend, and while the first clue is purposefully vague, there’s always something in there for die-hard treasure hunters to pursue.
Matt Foster, a new resident of St. Paul, was digging around Indian Mounds Regional Park on Sunday afternoon. This is his first hunt, but he’s been reading guidebooks and reviewing past searches to get a better idea where the medallion might be found.
“I started here because there’s obviously a lot of history to go with the clues,” he said. “There are a lot of clues that will fit.”
Foster moved here four months ago from Madison to work at the new Hy-Vee grocery store in Oakdale. He’s originally from Somerset, Wis., and has family in the St. Paul area.
He said his grandmother Jan Foster used to go treasure hunting with other housewives years ago when their children were at school. He planned to visit her later Sunday to ask for advice.
The first clue of this year’s hunt was published in the Sunday paper:
“Last year’s rich bounty was found in the county
“A new park for all to explore
“This year’s bauble will cause you no trouble
“If the rules are kept in the fore.”
One word in the clue kept sticking in Foster’s head, and he was trying to figure out what to make of it.
“That one word ‘bauble.’ That’s a strange word to throw in there,” he said.
One definition of the word is “ornament.” Could the medallion be hanging in a tree somewhere? That seemed too easy, but Foster kept scanning the branches around him at the same time as he dug around signposts and recycling bins.
Over in Highland Park, veteran treasure hunter Steven Sanftner was chewing on the same word. He thought bauble might refer to the mock sceptre carried by court jesters, and that made him think of clowns and the circus, so he was hunting at the picnic pavilion next to Circus Juventas headquarters.
“You’ve got to go somewhere, you know?” Sanftner said. “There’s usually something in the first clue, and it’s very vague.”
Foster and Sanftner both said that they were hunting for fun but that the $10,000 prize would be nice, too. In order to collect the whole prize they’d have to find the medallion (worth $2,500), present it along with clippings or a printout of all the clues (another $2,500) and have a St. Paul Winter Carnival button that had been registered by Friday ($5,000).
More information on the hunt, presented by Fury Jeep, is available at TwinCities.com/treasurehunt. The first opportunity to get a copy of the paper with the next day’s clues is about 11:30 nightly at Gabe’s By the Park, 991 N. Lexington Parkway. Clues are published online about that same time.
Jaime DeLage is on the Treasure Hunt and Winter Carnival beat this year.
He can be reached at 651-228-5450. Follow him at Twitter.com/JaimeDeLage.
Copyright 2016 Pioneer Press.
