“When Silver Bells came up, I knew I had it.”

What’s more fitting than a person who has been researching and coordinating the preservation of the town’s first fire bell than for that person to find the Torchlight Parade and Fireworks medallion.

Local businessman and historian Dale Ruhland found the medallion Sunday evening. “I’ve never hunted for a medallion. I’ve never had an interest in doing it, but what was implied in the last clue made it interesting,” said Ruhland. “I followed the clues and the first one said, ‘It couldn’t be more clear.’ I took that as it was in plain sight.”

Ruhland continued, “The clue didn’t really tell me anything other than it meant you can’t look in the same old place. The third clue mentioned last year being about holiday movies but then mentioned a path and that you should ‘follow a different tune’ and I thought of the bell.” He went out last Friday to the bell at city hall, the city’s second fire bell from 1898, and didn’t see anything.

“This last week’s clue said the song was released in 1950,” said Ruhland. “I kept thinking about it this weekend and, after the Vikings’ win on Sunday I felt inspired. I googled ‘songs that were released in 1950’ and, when Silver Bells came up, I knew I had it.”

Ruhland went back to the bell at city hall and this time he stood up on the base of it to see on top of the structure. “I rubbed the snow off of the left side (while facing the building) and then I looked to the right side and I could see a piece of it. I brushed the snow off and there it was, just sitting right on top.” It was about 7 p.m. that Ruhland found it, in the dark.

Perhaps it was fate that brought the medallion to Ruhland, who has spent a lot of time coordinating the history and refurbishment of the city’s oldest fire bell that rests next to the settler’s cabin in Memorial Park. He received $100 in Monty Bucks to spend at local retailers.