2011 Hunt Is Coming Soon

The Pepsi Marigold Medallion Hunt is just around the corner.  Watch for the first clue to be released on this site on Monday, August 29th.

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2025 Jimmy John's Marigold Medallion Clues Explained

  Medallion Hunt Clues and Explanations:   The medallion was found just off the McNaughton Park’s Potowatamie Trail Sheridan Road access.   Every year my writing approach is the same:   once a hiding spot is selected, start writing clues that progressively reveal it.   As a tool for hunters, I’ll often find concepts, themes or other references to add to the mental exercise this treasured event partly is.    With the advent of AI, caution in crafting them became important. This year I was struck by two main ideas to use.   The first was the Marigold Festival’s excellent choice of Maureen Naughtin as Grand Marshal. Add “Mc” before her last name and you’re in the neighborhood.   The second occurred when listening to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”.   Check out the lyrics.   For example “in a tree by a brook”; “the forests will echo with laughter” “those who stand tall” (trees); “there are two paths you can go by”; “words have t...
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Clue Explanations

When I decided earlier this year to continue as Cluemeister, I thought I'd change things up to add the opportunity for more "armchair quarterbacking". So I threw in some references that called for a slightly different level of research.  The references in Clue Five to "the III- or The Third" was a brain teaser that, once figured out, the hunter might determine that they follow "Junior and Senior" as a multi- generational progression. In Clue Six I had "Nine and MJ's number" that added up to 32. This related to "degrees" and at 32 degrees we may have snow, as in Pekin's popular sledding location. Clue Seven was heated up quite a bit. I was always concerned about being disruptive to the High School. Discovery on the weekend would have been ideal. In the end it worked out well. Here are the clues and brief explanations. Clue 1:  We arrive as we should at the beginning.  The time has come to find your prize.  Hid...
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2024 Jimmy Johns Marigold Medallion Hunt Clues Explained

  2024 Jimmy Johns Marigold Medallion Hunt   I knew that Tante Park would be my choice earlier than I usually choose my hiding spot. In early June I created an episode for my podcast   “What’s the Story, Pekin”, where I enlisted Pekin Library’s local historian, Jared Olar to research a special topic.   I asked him if he could look into how a number of iconic Pekin locations got their names.   We titled it “What’s in a Name” and it included places like FM Peterson Theater, CB Smith and Wilson Schools, James Field, McNaughton Park and more.   Jared found great information.   But the place that had him stumped was Tante Park.   In a sense it was a story that is perhaps “lost to history”.   But I knew I had found the Medallion’s future hiding location.   That podcast would be part of my conceptual framework.   Using it would be new, unpredictable, and unexpected- just what keeps the Medallion Hunt special for many.   Besides,...
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