2009 Medallion Has Been found
At about 9:30 this morning, the medallion was found in Swede Hollow Park. It was found by the father/daughter team of Joe and Jessica Horwath of Maplewood. The pair claimed the entire $10,000 prize, as well as the $1,200 in groceries from Cub Foods. They'd only been out looking for an hour or so when they stumbled across it. It was found several feet away from where it was originally hidden; someone probably tossed it away with their shovel. Ma Press has a great piece of poetry courtesy of the clue writer about it.
During the 1990’s, the St Paul Pioneer Press opened online discussion forums. These forums were called Water Coolers. The forums had discussion topics related to sports, politics, news, and current events. Each year, the Pioneer Planet – the online section of the Pioneer Press – opened a discussion forum as a media for hunters to discuss the clues for the Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt.
During the earlier years, one might find a few hundred posts during the hunt. As more hunters had computers, those numbers jumped. From 1997 to 1998, the number of posts increased from the hundreds to the 5-digit thousands. It was during the 1998 hunt the Cooler Crew was born.
The community spirit and teamwork displayed in the Pioneer Press Medallion Hunt thread was inspiring. The group of hunters found themselves at the end of a hunt not wanting to let go of new friendships and the camaraderie found on the Water Cooler board. The idea emerged to do what anyone would do in the middle of winter in Minnesota. A picnic in Cherokee was planned - the first Rehash Bash!
