Ladies, the moral of this year’s Love Your Melon Presents Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt might be this: Don’t listen to your husbands.
Because, if Julie Schonhardt had, this year’s medallion would be in the trash right now.
“It looked gross,” admits her husband, Dan Schonhardt, of the hidden treasure. “I told her to throw it away.”
Instead, Julie stood at her kitchen sink in Eagan, running hot water over the icy, dirty, chunk of something they had found at 12:31 a.m. on Tuesday under a log at Highland Park.
“It looked like some kid’s toy that had gotten demolished and then deteriorated by bad weather,” she says.
Let’s rewind our story for a moment: The Schonhardts are part of a crew of friends who enjoy participating in local treasure hunts. Ours is the big one, though.
“We consider this our Super Bowl hunt,” Julie says.
On Monday night, as is often their ritual, four of the crew members — the Schonhardts as well as “ringleader” Josh Ellingson of Apple Valley and Zak Rexford of Edina — had gathered at Shamrocks for the first edition of the Pioneer Press to be delivered with the latest clue — Clue 10: “A lover’s fix under tangle of sticks/The medallion scratches hunters’ itches./Where bridge spans a gap; nearby a trap/Line up putts that are pitches.”
That last line was the key.
“‘Line up putts that are pitches’ immediately made us think of disc golf,” Dan says. “And Highland was the only park with a disc golf course.”
RELATED: 2020 Treasure Hunt clues explained
So the crew headed to Highland — a park they had not yet scouted or searched. Because they got there so soon after the clue was released, the park was not yet crowded with other treasure hunters. Based on the newest clue as well as previous ones, the group went to a wooded area with a bridge and a ravine, straight down from hole 13.
“We found it maybe within 10 minutes of getting there,” Dan says.
“I first spotted it, but I didn’t have any tools, so I called Dan over,” says Julie.
“It was right next to a downed log,” says Dan, “kind of underneath it.”
It didn’t feel like they had struck gold; it felt like maybe they had found litter.
“I chipped at it for awhile,” Dan says, “but then I put it in my pocket — and we kept searching for about 40 more minutes!”
“It’s crazy to think we had it for awhile without even knowing,” Julie says.
Back at home, after Dan told his wife to throw the icy find away, he went to take off his gear and wash up when he heard her screaming from the kitchen.
“I thought she was messing with me,” he says.
But she kept yelling.
That’s when his heart began to race.
Could it be …
“At that point, I sprinted to her,” he says. “I almost fell over to get to the kitchen.”
Here is what he saw: Once his wife was able to melt away the ice, she found a creepy doll’s head (which, according to our Treasure Hunt source, was purchased at Goodwill, after which it had some of its hair cut off in addition to a burned “patina” added with a blowtorch; however, the ice and dirt were courtesy of Mother Nature, according to our source).
VIDEO: Watch the 2020 Treasure Hunt medallion being hidden
“I got my scissors to cut it open,” Julie says of the doll’s head, “and began pulling stuffing out.”
And then: “I saw a clear, hard piece of something in the middle,” she recalls, “so I kept pulling.”
That clear, hard piece of something… was the medallion.
“We started jumping up and down,” says Dan.
Usually, this crew ends Treasure Hunt season with “sad beers.” This occasion, at about 1:30 a.m., was to be commemorated with something stronger and happier.
“We took a few pictures,” he said, “and had a glass of celebratory whiskey.” (Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve, he says.)
Although three of their crew members weren’t on hand when they found the medallion — Nate Messerich of Burnsville, their armchair strategist, was home asleep, as was Craig Heinen of Richfield; also, Ellingson’s wife, Amy Ellingson, was at home with the couple’s new baby — but no worries: This crew will still share in the $10,000 purse (Dan will also get an extra $500 finder’s fee).
The reward for finding the medallion is $2,500. The finder gets an additional $2,500 for presenting copies of all the clues and a $5,000 bonus for having a registered light-up Treasure Hunt medallion. This year, hunt sponsor Love Your Melon also is offering a year’s worth of products, another $2,500 value, if the finder snapped a selfie with the medallion while wearing a Love Your Melon beanie.
What will the group do with their winnings?
“Maybe we’ll go out for a celebratory dinner,” says Julie.
“I might buy an extra bottle of whiskey,” says Dan. “For next year.”
While winning is awesome, so is the hunt, the winners said at a press conference at the newspaper on Tuesday morning.
“It also gets me out in the winter, which is great,” Dan says of the Treasure Hunt.”Being able to get out in the parks, all the history. It’s a lot of fun.”
“It’s a lot of fun to be out in nature and exploring the city,” says Julie.
“And you get to meet a lot of weird people, too,” Dan says.
That’s the best part, right? See you next year, weirdos (we say that with love — we seriously love you guys).
Copyright 2020 Pioneer Press.
