They’re trading their shovels for rakes this year for the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt
Some might even bring leaf blowers.
That’s right: In this year bereft of snow, it’s time for the annual Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt, presented by Fury Jeep.
This oh-so-St. Paul tradition turns the east metro into one big, friendly small town, where all kinds of people come together over a coveted medallion — and brave the cold to do it.
The maximum prize: a cool $10,000 cash.
Read More...
Bad Weather combines both, with this special brew, kickoff
Craft beer and Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt lovers, I have some great news that I can finally share!
The Pioneer Press is partnering with St. Paul’s Bad Weather Brewing to release a very special, limited-release Treasure Hunt beer.
The Dark Cream Ale will be released in the brewery’s St. Paul taproom at an event Jan. 19, the day before the annual Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt officially begins.
Read More...
Parking lot genius, royal hunt postponed
Harriet Island Regional Park stretches 70 acres along the Mississippi, where it can field fierce winds and snow unimpeded from the north. It has woods, trails, a long shoreline and a great lawn facing the river. In that vastness, someone found a 2½ inch-diameter medallion the color of ice, based on inscrutable clues.
This was my view over the years from the newsroom of the Pioneer Press, which since 1952 has compelled those souls out into the cold in pursuit of the $10,000 prize.
Read More...
All it takes is a little snow to spike Treasure Hunt fever.
All it takes is a little snow to spike Treasure Hunt fever.
Now that we’ve finally got a fresh coat, we’re happy to say it’s nearly time for the annual Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt, presented by Fury Jeep.
At stake is a cool $10,000 prize.
Year 67 of the hunt begins...
Read More...
"There are no ‘gotta be’s’ in this."
As the annual Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt entered Day Clue 9 early Monday, two things were clear:
1. The medallion hadn’t been found.
2. There was no overwhelming consensus in which park it might be.
Two frequent theories — both born before the hunt even started — showed little signs of dying, both on social media threads and in quiet discussions among hunters:
1. Como
2. Long Lake
Each exemplifies the mind-cramping gymnastics treasure hunters go through ...
Read More...
Veteran treasure hunters are giving Shamrocks high marks. But nothing was as good as standing in line in front of the Pioneer Press.
The seats are warm, the beer is cold and the mood is a wintry mix of jovial, secretive and anticipatory.
It’s Shamrocks bar and grill on West Seventh Street in St. Paul. Wednesday evening. Awaiting Clue 5 in the annual Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt.
As they have for generations, hardcore medallion hunters bring their kin and kind out in the evening to await the first editions of the printed newspaper, where, on the upper left-hand corner, next to the rest of the news, the next day’s clue appears. The seating area is filled nearly to capacity ...
Read More...
"first in more than a decade"
The 2016 Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt was the first in more than a decade that went down to the 12th and final clue.
Christopher Jozwiak, Phillip Kitzer and Heather Vocke, all of Minneapolis, found the medallion late Wednesday in the woods near the Bald Eagle Lake boat ramp north of White Bear Lake.
The last time the hunt went to the last clue was 2004, when Luis and Virginia Ibarra found the medallion about eight hours after the final clue was published. The medallion was loose in the snow at Phalen Park after apparently being dislodged from the green frosted doughnut it was hidden with.
The doughnut, perhaps eaten by squirrels, was never...
Read More...
An interview with Emily Engberg
The Saint Paul Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt started during the Winter Carnival back in 1952. Daniel Ridder, the publisher of the Pioneer Press at the time, was the brainchild of the event. He thought it would be fun to print daily clues to help people find a hidden treasure chest. Daniel and his brother Robert hid the treasure chest in Highland Park. It was so popular that it continues today.
Today, the treasure is a medallion and it’s always hidden in a public space. Jesse Anibas...
Read More and See Video...
"the best secret in St. Paul"
This anonymous person is described as "the best secret in St. Paul."
It's a mystery man or woman who might be one of the great hidden identities of newspaper journalism, up there with the Washington Post's Deep Throat or the alter ego of the Daily Planet's Clark Kent.
We're talking, of course, about the person who writes the clues for the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt.
The hunt is in its 64th year. Over the decades, due to death or retirement, the mantle of the clue writer has been secretly handed down from person to person, rather like the transfer of the identity of the Dread Pirate Roberts.
Occasionally, the names of retired clue writers...
Read More...
1993 Treasure Hunt: A backstory
The video begins outside the St. Paul Pioneer Press headquarters. Cedar Street is clogged with cars, and a thick line of people stretches down the block.
A timestamp says "12:26 a.m., Feb. 7, 1993." ....
Read More and See Video...
Experts dispense a treasury of medallion-hunting wisdom
A horde of searchers wielding shovels, hoes and rakes will start scouring parks and public lands in Ramsey County today as the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt kicks off.
But if history is any guide, the hunters also will be armed with dictionaries, IPhones, ladders, GPS devices, laptop computers and chicken wire in their quest for the elusive medallion.
We talked to a handful of veteran hunters to learn the things they carry into the field, what they've seen other people using and what they think are the essential tools of the quest.
Read More...A couple's new film, shot over four years, tracks the ups and downs, joys and frostbite of diehard treasure hunters.
Trent Tooley didn't mean to get hooked. Neither did Dan Fleming, Steve Worthman or Jesse Anibas.
Read More...The Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt — a Winter Carnival fixture since 1952 — doesn't change much. And isn't that the way it should be?
There really isn't much new from year to year with the annual Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt, and that's the way it should be, according to the newspaper's publisher, Harold Higgins.
"The Treasure Hunt is a tradition. We don't plan on making changes,'' Higgins said, in releasing the information basics about the popular, yet secretive, contest that the newspaper began in 1952.
Read More...Treasure Hunt attracts searchers in cyberspace, too
The hunt begins in 11 days.... The hunt begins in 10 days.... The hunt begins in nine days....
This message slowly ticks away on a Web site maintained by "Med Hunter" for the serious fan of the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt, held in conjunction with the St. Paul Winter Carnival.
Read More...Intrepid seekers of the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt medallion are hoping for good conditions in which to pursue their quarry - and that means plenty of snow.
It is mid-January and "Mr. Med Hunter" anxiously scans the daily weather forecasts. He is cheered somewhat by the 2 to 3 inches of snow St. Paul got last Sunday, but the hints from the Pioneer Press weather page of "light snow," "some snow" and "flurries" may not be enough.
"We need 8 inches of snow cover at least," said Hunter, a draftsman known the rest of the year as Jesse Anibas of White Bear Lake.
Read More...
Technology has changed the way some people search, but the Winter Carnival Treasure Hunt retains its mystery and magic after 50 years.
In 1952, when the Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt began, finding the hidden medallion was a simpler affair. Most hunters eagerly awaited the two-a-day clues printed in the morning Pioneer Press and the afternoon Dispatch. They often gathered in the cold outside the newspaper lobby ....
Read More...