2024 Festival Medallion Quest Winner Confirmed on May 17

Salina Arts & Humanities announces that the winner of the 2024 Festival Medallion Quest (FMQ), sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, is Mandy Copp.

On Friday Evening Copp and her family; her son Jacob Copp and husband Sean Copp along with their friend Jon Loader, headed to Centennial Park to search for the Medallion. The fourth clue, “South of the King” directed them her to the park, thinking that the Medallion was south of Spangles on Crawford. She also stayed in this spot because she interpreted the third clue, “West of a wide path.” as representing Broadway Blvd.

Her son Jacob had been exploring the area where the Medallion was found, laying on his stomach and poking his fingers in the holes of the railroad tie along the sidewalk. He and was part of the reason Copp stayed in the area and started searching more thoroughly. The group had visited Centennial Park that morning, and revisited it later this afternoon after the fifth clue was released. Copp found the medallion around 4:45 pm on Friday, May 17th.

Copp is no stranger to the Festival Medallion Quest and has participated for eight years. Mandy Copp is the 18th winner of the Festival Medallion Quest, which was started in 2009 by the Smoky Hill River Festival. “I love looking for the Medallion every year with my team and talking with other hunters. We bounce ideas off other people when we are out in the field,” says Copp.

The Quest took three days and five clues. The clues were shared online at festivalmedallionquest.com and posted outside the Eighth Street Salina Arts & Humanities office doors. The 2024 Medallion was hidden near the Friendship Center in Centennial Park, disguised as a rebar stake inside a railroad tie. A colorful note with directions for the winner were also hidden inside the stake.

The 2024 Quest winner receives a prize package of $1,000 in cash and $2,000 in Gift Certificates for shopping at the River Festival 2024 Fine Art and Craft Show. Other prizes include four Festival admission wristbands, a complimentary on grounds VIP parking pass, an invitation for four to the Thursday evening PREMIERE Art Patron party, and four River Festival 2024 T-shirts.

“I appreciated the positive exchanges people had on social media and the cooperative spirit that Medallion hunters showed,” said Salina Arts & Humanities Executive Director Brad Anderson. “The Festival Medallion Quest celebrates our community's patronage of the arts. It is exciting to see how Questers explore and think differently about their city in search of the medallion as it leads up to the Smoky Hill River Festival,” said Visual Arts Coordinator Crystal Hammerschmidt. Over the years, families have searched side by side, solved riddles, and endeavored to find the Medallion. It marks the official countdown to the River Festival.

The Smoky Hill River Festival, now in its 48th year, is the flagship event of Salina Arts & Humanities, a department of the City of Salina. 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, three stages of live entertainment, the Artyopolis kid’s area, Festival food, and more. The River Festival generates approximately $3.5 million in revenue annually within the local community.

Advance-price, four-day Festival Wristbands are available until late Tuesday, June 11, at 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.

From the Smoky Hill River Festival FB page:

FESTIVAL MEDALLION HAS BEEN FOUND. Press Conference to happen at 5:45 pm at Salina Arts & Humanities, 211 W. Iron Ave.

The second clue in the 2024 Smoky Hill River Festival Medallion Hunt has been released. Clues will be released everyday from now until the Medallion is found at 7:30 am and 4:30 pm.

Clue #1: A timely institution.

Clue #2: Some are not spiked.

Clue #3: West of a wide path.

Clue #4: South of the King.

Clue #5: Step, walk, step.