19th Annual Winterfest Medallion Hunt Rules
Find the Medallion somewhere in St Peter, and you will win $1,000 in St. Peter Chamber Bucks!
There are a few simple rules to remember when searching for the St. Peter Winter Medallion:
- The Medallion is located within the St. Peter city limits and on public property.
- Do NOT dig in the soil.
- Please respect other people’s property and DO NOT search for the Medallion on private property (never search Treaty Site History Center, adjacent properties, or cemeteries).
- Please DO NOT climb over any fences when looking for the Medallion. The Medallion is NOT located in a restricted area.
Clues will be posted at 5:01 p.m. each day, until the Medallion is found, on the following websites:
If you find the Medallion, you can turn it in at the St. Peter Area Chamber of Commerce office located at 101 S. Front Street in St. Peter. If you find the Medallion outside of the normal Chamber of Commerce business hours, please call Ed at 507-766-4560 so, as a courtesy to all Medallion hunters, we can report via the Chamber Facebook Page that it has been found. An e-mail also will go immediately to the St. Peter Herald and Mankato Free Press.
Special Thank You to the St. Peter Area Tourism & Visitors Bureau for donating the St. Peter Chamber Bucks for the Medallion Hunt once again this year!
Finding a winter medallion was not a first for Trae Swehla.
In 2021, he was shoveling just a few feet from the finder in Gorman Park, and he was so upset about missing it that he drove to Albert Lea and found that city’s medallion a few days later.
“I’ve been knocking on the door in Saint Peter,” said Swehla, after finding the Winterfest medallion at 5:05 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4 in Minnesota Square Park. “But I finally got it.”
Swehla was just a few feet away from Cole McCarthy and Gavin Grochow when those two found the 2022 Saint Peter Winterfest medallion in Levee Park at 6:33 p.m. on a Friday after the eighth clue.
“So, shout out to Gavin and Cole. I look forward to telling Gavin about this,” Swehla said, reaching for his phone to Facetime Gavin. Gavin reacted with congratulations and surprise.
It was Gavin who suggested to Swehla that he search Gorman Park, because all the clues fit. One of Saint Peter’s five governors, Willis A. Gorman, was also a general and the central figure with Saint Peter nearly becoming the state capital in 1858.
“I spent most of my search at Gorman, probably six to eight hours,” Swehla said. But, clue #7 on Thursday and clue #8 on Friday urged him to Minnesota Square Park, and clue #9 at 5:01 p.m. Saturday kept him there.
“I found it close to the sidewalk, in a straight line to the red-lights tree,” said Swehla. “It’s always hidden in a line to something, and this time I knew it was that tree.”
A swarm of searchers buzzed in that area waiting for Saturday afternoon’s clue to be posted, enjoying the balmy low-30’s temperatures after a week of below- or barely-above-zero temperatures. Earlier clues told them the medallion was hidden somewhere reasonably close-south to the information kiosk.
Swehla had the right feeling about it being next to the sidewalk off from the tree.
Clues alluded to the previous Washington School in the Minnesota Square Park, General George Washington, St. Paul Street as St. Paul is the official state capital, the Veterans Memorial, and numerous festivals, including the annual Old-Fashioned Fourth of July Picnic in the Park.
Metal shovels were one way to cut through the unusually deep, rain-hardened snow for searchers, but Swehla’s shovel wound up unfortunately with his mom in the Alden area.
“Shout out to Arrow Hardware, because I bought this one,” said Swehla, showing his shiny heavy duty garden spade with the pride of King Arthur tightly gripping Excalibur.
Swehla is a 2010 Alden-Conger graduate, Registered Nurse at River’s Edge Hospital, and new Saint Peter homeowner with a 3-year-old. He said he is not sure yet how he will spend the $1,000 Chamber Bucks prize offered up by the Saint Peter Tourism Bureau.
What’s next for Swehla, who finally struck gold after hunting for the Saint Peter medallion each of the past three years?
“I’m going down to Albert Lea to see if I can find their medallion again.”
