2021 Eagle Medallion Hunt clues explained

This year’s medallion was nestled under some pine needles under an evergreen tree in Big Arkansas River Park.

Here are each day’s clues and what they meant.

DAY ONE

To all the hunters this clue does now reach:

It’s time once again to enter the breach.

Follow the rules; keep your heads down.

Those who don’t will be left with a frown.

“It’s time once again to enter the breach” hinted at the Arkansas River, along which the medallion has been hidden before, including the last hunt, in 2019. “Keep your heads down” pointed to the medallion being near the ground

DAY TWO

Leaves of three, you should let it be.

Leaves of four, you’re close to the score.

An attachment you could say these do lack.

Think of it as the proverbial haystack.

Near the hiding location was a cluster of four trees. If you were near the leaves of these four, you were close to the medallion. The last two lines point to the bed of needles under the tree. The third line is about the needles being no longer attached; the fourth line is a reference to finding a needle in a haystack.

DAY THREE

For hunters out there Penn’s partner won’t do.

Think Chandler and Matt and Suellentrop too.

Stretches the definition, but it’ll have to do.

Besides this one has a much better view.

The first line of this clue is about Teller, of Penn and Teller fame. The second line drops the names of three Wichita bank leaders: Charlie Chandler of Intrust, Matt Michaelis of Emprise and Frank Suellentrop of Legacy. The idea behind these two lines was that you wanted the top of the bank. The tree under which the medallion was hidden was at the top of the bank along the river. It’s quite a distance up from the river itself, so it “stretched the definition” of a riverbank but from it you can see much further, hence the “better view.”

DAY FOUR

To win the hunt. One must divine.

To go between is more than fine.

Three lines in and we’re almost done.

Five to find for medallion fun.

The key here was the first word of each sentence — not each line. Each are also numbers, which are 2 1 2 3 5. The park sits between 21st Street and I-235. “Divine” was to intuit what the words meant. “To go between” pointed to the park’s placement. “Five to find” was about the five numbers in the clue.

DAY FIVE

It’s the last day of our medallion excursion.

Most around here think it’s a big diversion.

The name’s not quite right, there’s an adjective assist.

You’ll see a name rightly honored and one most resist.

“A big diversion” is a reference to the M.S. “Mitch” Mitchell Floodway, more commonly known as the Big Ditch, which begins near the park. “The name’s not quite right” is about the park’s name, Big Arkansas River Park. It sits next to the Arkansas River, no “big” in its name — therefore “An adjective assist.”

Within the park — and within sight of the hiding spot — are information displays about Mitchell, also known as “Big Ditch Mitch,” who designed and surveyed the project’s creation in the 1950s. On the displays are a reference to the project’s former name, Wichita-Valley Center Flood Control Project, which next to no one uses.