She related that she bounded out of bed, popped in her contact lenses and bolted from the house in her pajamas, pausing only to call her father, Fred Graning, to tell him that the secret location was just blocks away from his Becker home.

 

A Becker native and a graduate of Becker High School, she and her family had moved back to town 18 months ago.  Having grown up here, she said she knows landmarks in the town very well.  Her uncle, David Graning, also served several terms as Becker’s mayor.

 

It was the mention of the gazebo that sits next to the old fire hall on Hancock Street that provided the final piece of the puzzle, Nunemacher said, and she and several family members descended on the area to begin an intense search.

 

As she scanned the grounds, Nunemacher said she saw a piece of muddy plastic bubble wrap protruding from a drainpipe attached to the NIX Bar & Grill building.  Good citizen that she is, she pulled the plastic out so that it would not block the drain pipe, and was going to throw it into a garbage can when she noticed the shining medallion inside.

 

“I was surprised to see how big it was,” she said, remembering earlier times when the prize would be hidden in a can or other small space.  It was a very rainy morning and the search party got quite wet, most especially their shoes, according to her young nephew Kellan Graning, an enthusiastic member of the family team.

 

The formal exchange ceremony was held at the Sherburne State Bank on Thursday afternoon, though the medallion had already been handed over to Becker Parks and Rec. Director Jamie Cassidy shortly after it was located.  Once the medallion was officially presented back to the city, bank representatives Vice-President Tanya Danielson and Alyssa Braaten presented the finder’s prize of a check for $100 to Nunemacher, who immediately thought of a celebratory trip to the Dairy Queen® for herself and her entourage, which included her nephew and her three-year-old son Ty.