Welcome to CoolerCrew.com. While our "big show" has always been the annual Pioneer Press Treasure Hunt during the St. Paul Winter Carnival, we keep track of over 100 treasure hunts associated with various festivals throughout Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. We are your one stop shop for all things treasure hunt! Apart from this site as a reference for current and past hunt information, we have other resources available as well:
- The Water Cooler, Our forums; our primary discussion site. A significant number of Coolerheads prefer this format for discussion rather than a place with hundreds of topics where you have to keep track of each one. With Ableminds crashing, we figure it's time to get it working here.
- Our Treasure Hunt discussion group on Facebook.
- Our Facebook group for discussing things not related to the treasure hunt.
- St. Paul Car Tag, a fun little game that we play when we're not looking for medallions.
You'll find that there isn't a lot of discussion in the Facebook group. Mostly clues as they come out for various hunts, and events like our annual Pre-dig Gig and Rehash Bash. Most of that can be found right here within this site. There tends to be a lot more discussion, particularly during the Pioneer Press hunt on Ableminds, or out in the park du jour during other hunts. Have a look around and feel free to join us. Hunt kickoffs, pity parties, and rehashes are always open to anyone who wants to show up!
And if you run into someone in the park and you want to know if they're a Coolerhead, just holler "you dig?".
Cooler Crew -- A History
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!
