2008 Dan Patch Days Horseshoe Hunt

Mirsch family snags triple crown

By Keighla Schmidt, Staff Writer June 19, 2008 - 11:38am

True to the competitive horse-racing theme of her hometown, Ann Mirsch and her son Walter found the hidden Dan Patch Days horseshoe for the third time in four years.

“I did my triple crown -- that was my goal,” she said. “It’s like horse races.”  Horseshoe found: Ann Mirsch and her son Walter hold the horseshoe they  found at Camp Savage.

Mirsch, who wasn’t planning to look for the hidden replica of the famous pacer Dan Patch’s horseshoe this year, couldn’t resist following her original hunch when she read this year’s third clue and got Walter out of bed Saturday, June 14, to explore Camp Savage.

“I was surprised about how much the third clue led right to the camp,” she said. “Usually it’s not that obvious until the last clue.”

Ann said she didn’t read the second clue, but after using an Internet search engine she found out the numbers 442 referenced in the clue were the same numbers as an infantry regiment from World War II that received language training at Camp Savage. So, she knew it had to be the spot.

“I thought from the start it might be Camp Savage,” she said. “To be honest, I never had another thought, from the first clue, I thought it’d be here.”

Another main source of information to help decipher the clues was the Dan Patch Historical Society’s Web site and the numerous sites about the hometown pacer.

“It’s amazing how much stuff comes up if you just search Dan Patch,” Ann said.

She said finding the horseshoe isn’t about getting the reward money, or even about riding in the parade anymore – they plan to donate both. Instead, it’s about the thrill of finding it, doing both research and physical activities with her kids and getting to know more about the town.

“There are things I know about Savage that I didn’t know before,” Walter said. “Especially about Dan Patch.”

Understanding the riddles and knowing what words to look for in the clues helped lead the duo to the shoe. The key, they said, is to listen to your hunch, but also consider other places.

“You really have to start with an open mind,” Ann’s husband, Mark, said. “You can’t rule anywhere out.”

Mark didn’t help find the shoe because he was out of town and when Ann called to say she and Walter found it, but he was surprised.

“I was like, ‘huh? I thought you weren’t looking for it this year,’” he recalled. “I was surprised to hear her say she found it.”

So were others at the camp.

Ann said there was a group of other people standing around and it looked like they were preparing to head off into the woods to search for the shoe when she and Walter parked, went to the flag pole, the memorial plaque and finally a flood light on the ground and found the shoe wrapped in plastic snuggled in the mulch around the light.

“They looked at us and were like, ‘Did they just find the horseshoe? How’d they know?’” she said. “This one, to me, was pretty obvious.”

When she helped find the shoe other years, it wasn’t as easy.

“The first year was the hardest,” she said.

Degree of difficulty wasn’t the only difference.

This year was different from years past when they found the shoe because the Mirsch family worked solo. In 2005 and 2006, the Mirsch family formed a team with another family, the Bernicks. Julie Bernick is a member of the Dan Patch Days Board and after negative rumors, rules were made regarding the search for the horseshoe, including the exclusion of members of the Dan Patch Days board members and people winning in back-to-back years.

“It’s not the same anymore without the rest of our team,” Ann said. “I think we’ll retire after this year.”

She and Mark acknowledged the new rules, but also think they’re being true to the spirit of Dan Patch.

“Dan Patch was a winner, he was competitive, it’s just like that,” Mark said. “We work just as hard as anyone else to find it.”

He also added he thinks the family would be criticized no matter what they do, if they try too hard or don’t try. The two even waited until Tuesday when one of her son’s had an appointment to get his hair cut at Razor’s Edge to turn in the horseshoe, despite finding it early Saturday morning. (The shop is closed both Sunday and Monday.)

“It was like, ‘Oh! Wow, we’ve got the shoe again,’” Ann said.

Ann added she hopes their competitiveness motivates other groups to search as hard as they do.