UPDATE 4:08 p.m. Sunday:
The winner of the 2021 Festival Medallion Quest is Heike Daily.
With help from two of her sons, including local son, Brad, and son Aaron of Peachtree City, Ga., along with granddaughter Tess, Daily found the 2021 Medallion at about 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to information from Salina Arts & Humanities (SAH).
The medallion was a grey-colored box with a sliding lid, placed under the base of a lamp post located just south of the “Trifinity” sculpture between the Salina Public Library, 301 W. Elm Street, and the City-County Building, 300 W. Ash Street.
Daily has searched every year since the quest began in 2009, originally with her sister. On Sunday, as she looked with help from her family, “All of a sudden, we saw the lampposts that looked like a moon, and noticed were in a straight line,” said Daily. “Then across from them was the 'new and old' courthouses, which led us to look again at the lampposts. Then, we realized that 'the missing eight' was Eighth Street, which ends south of the courthouse.”
Daily is the 15th winner of the Festival Medallion Quest that was started in 2009 by the Smoky Hill River Festival. The Festival Medallion Quest’s goal is to foster creativity and connectivity in a way that reflects the spirit of the river festival.
The 2021 Quest took nearly five days and returned to the previous format of two daily written-only clues, shared online at festivalmedallionquest.com and posted outside the S. Eighth Street SAH office doors.
To view the full set of Festival Medallion Quest clues, go to festivalmedallionquest.com and click on the Clues page.
The 2021 prize package includes $1,000 in cash and $1,000 in gift certificates to be used for shopping at the river festival 2021 Fine Art and Craft Show. Other prizes include four festival admission wristbands, festival water bottles, a complimentary on-grounds VIP parking pass, an invitation for four to the Thursday evening PREMIERE Art Patron party, some 45th-anniversary gator-style festival bandannas and four river festival 2021 T-shirts.
The Smoky Hill River Festival, now in its 45th year, is the flagship event of Salina Arts & Humanities, a department of the City of Salina. It is scheduled for Sept. 2-5 in Salina's Oakdale Park.
The river festival draws many local residents and out-of-town guests each year to Salina, to enjoy outdoor art installations, the Fine Art and Craft Show, four stages of live entertainment, the Artyopolis kid’s area, Festival food and more. The river festival generates approximately $3.5 million in revenue each year, within the local community.
Advance-price, four-day Festival Wristbands are available until late Aug. 31 at about 40 Salina locations and in 18 other regional cities. Children 11 and under get in free.
For more information on the Festival Medallion Quest or the Smoky Hill River Festival, call 785-309-5770 or visit riverfestival.com.
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UPDATE 3 p.m. Sunday: Heike Daily of Salina has been identified as the winner of the 2021 Festival Medallion Quest.
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The Smoky Hill River Festival medallion has been found!
Salina Arts and Humanities plans to announce the name of the person who found it later today.
Salina Post will have more information when it becomes available.