Statement of Purpose
The Cooler Crew is an online community dedicated to the spirit of the annual St. Paul Pioneer Press Winter Carnival Medallion Hunt. The shared quest for a plastic blue medallion hidden every winter in a public park in St. Paul, Minnesota caused a friendly exchange of ideas within a Web forum supplied by the sponsors of the medallion hunt. By nature of being a community, the Crew has expanded its mutual interests, but the thrill of the hunt is where it all began. Eventually, it was decided that these souls needed a place of their own—and here it is. Every attempt is being made to make this an important reference point for all things medallion, with a few extras for good measure.
Unlike some other computer-based gathering places, this joint is filled with intelligent people who make a point to get away from their computers every now and then, sometimes to meet with each other as a group in public places. Whether you're looking for sensory involvement beyond the sights on a computer screen, or you simply want a new place to play, the Cooler is a respectable place to stop by for a cool drink.
With the recent spike in local medallion hunts as part of annual suburban and rural festivals, and especially the recent finds by Cooler Crew members (mucluck found the Roseville RoseFest medallion, and becksie found the Inver Grove Heights Days star), this site strives to be the premier site on the internet for medallion hunting.
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!
