Stop Searching—We Have a Winner!
The key for our Treasure Hunt was found in
Lafayette County by a nostalgic reader.
A FOND MEMORY from his boyhood days helped direct George Risberg of Middleton to find the hidden key in our Wisconsin Treasure Hunt contest.
The spot was in Yellowstone State Park in Lafayette County. As our winner, he takes home a prize package of a pair of his-and-hers e-bikes valued at $5,700. Congratulations, George!
If ever a winner earned his prize, that would be George, who braved a frigid morning at zero degrees to go out and search. While most of us were snug indoors, he was kneeling in 4 inches of snow with gloves off, feeling around for the plastic bag he had a hunch he’d find.
George was out looking for an hour and was about ready to give up when something caught his attention. We’ll tell you about his aha moment further on, but first, here’s how George learned of this contest.
“I first heard about Our Wisconsin on The Larry Meiller Show on Wisconsin Public Radio,” George says. “The editor joins Larry on this talk show from time to time, and when I learned about the magazine, I thought it sounded pretty interesting.
“I’m a native of Belleville in southern Wisconsin and worked on the road for over 20 years as a salesman of power tools. I traveled the state from end to end calling on hardware stores and got to know Wisconsin pretty well.”
After listening to the Meiller show, George subscribed, liked what he saw, then bought gift subscriptions for family members. “My dad loves it and my kids enjoy it too,” George says.
George, his wife, Megan, and their children enjoy hiking in parks on nice days for a family activity. During the past year, Maisie, 10, Gus, 8, and Winnie, 7, joined their dad a few times in searching for the key in Dane and Grant counties.
No luck there! But Maisie should be credited with an assist on her dad’s successful find. Here’s where that nostalgic memory comes into play.
One morning in late January, George saw Maisie paging through the Feb/Mar issue before school. When the kids left to catch the bus, George picked up the edition and turned to the Treasure Hunt page.
“I saw only two counties were still in the running and one was Lafayette,” he says. “I thought, that’s gotta be Yellowstone State Park. I grabbed a coffee and got on the road—it’s about an hour away.”
READY TO RIDE. The Risberg family of Middleton receives their pair of e-bikes from Kevin Boon (left), CEO and owner of Small Town Bike Co. Maisie, Gus and Winnie helped their dad, George, search for the hidden key.
Motivated by Memories
What sent George on his mission was our seventh clue, “Boats ’n’ bait”. It was a dead giveaway for him because that phrase is rooted strongly in his childhood.
“My father, George Sr., was the guidance counselor for the Pecatonica School District. He had to attend monthly board meetings, and when I was around 12, he’d sometimes take me along,” George recalls.
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“He’d drop me off at Yellowstone State Park, where he’d rent a rowboat and buy some bait. Then, while he sat through the meeting, I got to catch panfish on Yellowstone Lake.”
George returned to the shore of this dammed impoundment and the bait stand, closed for winter. “No one else was around, but people had been searching because there were a lot of tracks in the snow.
“I checked the stacked dock sections. I dug into the riprap rocks along the shoreline with a flashlight. I’d been out there over an hour and was ready to head back to the truck when something caught my eye.”
A crag in a deteriorated landscape timber drew George to his knees. “I pulled off my gloves, shoved a hand inside and my fingers touched what I hoped was a plastic bag. It was…I was elated. I only wish the kids could have been along to see it too.”
We appreciate you sharing your story, George; it sounds like the whole family enjoyed this ride.