Michael Burnett’s sleuthing skills paid off.
Burnett, who works as Allen County EMS director, discovered the Farm-City Days Medallion on Friday morning.
The medallion was inside a metal lockbox tucked away inside a bush on the south side of the Allen County Courthouse. The bush was part of the flower bed alongside the main sidewalk.
Finding the lockbox was only half the mystery. Burnett also needed to resolve the combination to get to the medallion. He correctly figured “1971,” which connects to the Farm-City Days celebration in multiple ways.
“I’d probably looked at that place at least 10 times over the past week,” said Burnett, who also found the medallion prior to the 2020 Farm-City Days celebration.
Finding the medallion — a 2-inch sprocket with “FCD” painted on it — capped a frenetic few weeks for organizers, who had originally ditched the hunt for this year.
However, the Farm-City Days committee reversed course after learning the carnival in line for this year’s festival had been canceled at the last minute.
That meant hiding the medallion somewhere on public property in Allen County, and then devising a series of clues complicated enough to keep folks guessing in the run-up to the celebration.
Volunteer Chelsea Lea took the reins, first deciding on the hiding spot, and then spending about a week to come up with the clues.
“I was happy it lasted as long as it did,” Lea said. “I was worried they were going to find it the first day.”
IN TRUTH, searchers needed to know a bit of geography and history about the celebration to be successful, as well as breaking the code to open the lockbox.
Lea broke down the clues — she came up with 14 in all — and what they meant.
1. To find my location you might have to twist. I’m hidden away but in plain sight, I might be missed.
Lea noted the “twist” was related to twisting the dials on the lockbox.
2. Numbers are important, they’re all around me. You’ll need four of them to get me, but which four is the mystery.
