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Is there already a planning committee


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I think it would be neat if it was done like the selection of the Geowoodstock site. All interested locations could submit a proposal, and the committee for the last event could select the next site.

 

I think so too, only the proposal doesn't have to be quite as involved. Can't pick a location until 2-3 individuals from a proposed host area step up and volunteer anyway.

Edited by AtlantaGal
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If we do settle on Pittsburgh, I'm willing to help volunteer (I live in a nearby city). I'd suggest moving it to the Fall season, though. The Fall foliage is beautiful here and there are many nearby cities that have a lot of great family friendly events at that time of the year. Plus, caching in the fall here provides for great weather and great scenery. With the new casino, gamblers could get their fix too. :(

 

...Anthus

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Maybe near Toledo, Ohio. That is in the Midwest. There are MANY coin collectors in the area and many people I know who would be happy to help. to name just a few, The moop along and I who most likely to help and there are many other people that I know of who collect many coins and live with in 300 miles of the city. The Midwest is a good location because it is the center of where most people in the country live, just look at one of thoughs light maps of the country at night.

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What points of interest are near Toledo? :(

 

C4 lived a few miles from the event locations. That's what we're looking for... 2-3 people older than 18 who would be the same distance from an area that has other points of interest nearby, which are appealing to a tourist/traveler. Temecula was within an hour from Disneyland, Hollywood and the San Diego Zoo for instance.

Edited by AtlantaGal
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I think it would be great if the next Geocoinfest was a whole weekend long event. I didn't get a chance to meet half of the people who attended and that really bummed me out. I'd prefer for the event to be anywhere in the West or Midwest. Since I'm from a fairly small city I found the traffic all around the area a bit overwhelming, it'd be nice if we could have it in a less trafficed area.

It would be great if the geocachers with children could attend also without having to pull their kids out of school. The first weekend of spring break might be nice or sometime in the summer too.

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I think it would be neat if it was done like the selection of the Geowoodstock site. All interested locations could submit a proposal, and the committee for the last event could select the next site.

 

I would somewhat disagree with this. If the current "committee" is going to run things again then they should have the vote on where it's held.

 

If it's going to go to a new location with new people hosting/running it, then the masses (forums) should vote on where it is.

 

edited: typos

Edited by kealia
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Okay - here's my 2 coins worth (not my wife's coins - mine.)

 

I just read all 57 posts consecutively prior to my writing this post, and I have to let you all in on a not so secret: The center of the US is located in Kansas. 2 miles northwest of Lebanon, KS to be exact. Just a tad north of US36 and a tad west of KS181.

 

For those of you paying attention, that's about 15 miles south of the Nebraska border. But here's the thing - and I am sure that there are alot of people who agree with this and there will probably be some who don't... isn't this area of the country called "Tornado Alley"?

 

I know there is a 'tornado season', but who wants to take the risk of putting on an event where the weather may turn on a dime and (if you can pardon the pun) blow the whole works!

 

If I were a committee member, I would seriously have to look at Chicago - I would look at the city of Chicago for points of interest (Field Museum, Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago sporting venues, theatres, etc.) and to the suburbs for attractions out of the city (Six Flags Great America to the north and Grand Victoria casino to the west, just to name 2 of them).

 

Another thing to keep in mind is accessability - Chicago is served by 2 major airports (Ohare and Midway), there is ample transportation available in the form of rental cars and also public transportation (Metra trains are fun for all family members).

 

I might even go as far as volunteering - but let's see how the cards 'flop' first... lol

 

I look forward to seeing how this all develops -

 

Jim

CinemaBoxers

 

Edit: Here's a picture http://www.urbanhipster.com/photos/ks/imag...nter-plaque.jpg

Edited by CinemaBoxers
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I think it would be great if the next Geocoinfest was a whole weekend long event. I didn't get a chance to meet half of the people who attended and that really bummed me out. I'd prefer for the event to be anywhere in the West or Midwest. Since I'm from a fairly small city I found the traffic all around the area a bit overwhelming, it'd be nice if we could have it in a less trafficed area.

It would be great if the geocachers with children could attend also without having to pull their kids out of school. The first weekend of spring break might be nice or sometime in the summer too.

 

I totally agree! :(

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I think it would be great if the next Geocoinfest was a whole weekend long event. I didn't get a chance to meet half of the people who attended and that really bummed me out. I'd prefer for the event to be anywhere in the West or Midwest. Since I'm from a fairly small city I found the traffic all around the area a bit overwhelming, it'd be nice if we could have it in a less trafficed area.

It would be great if the geocachers with children could attend also without having to pull their kids out of school. The first weekend of spring break might be nice or sometime in the summer too.

 

I would have to agree also. I would have tried to attend if it weren't for my kids being in school. I just couldn't convince myself to justify taking them out of school for an event.

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Keep in mind that if you pick small towns with no large airports fares are going to be much higher. With convenience (airports/hotels/car rental) come congestion.

Also, with kids and holidays, different areas/states take different holidays, so perhaps summer would be best for most if this is an issue.

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Keep in mind that if you pick small towns with no large airports fares are going to be much higher. With convenience (airports/hotels/car rental) come congestion.

Also, with kids and holidays, different areas/states take different holidays, so perhaps summer would be best for most if this is an issue.

Okay, so the San Francisco Bay Area has it's share of urban congestion, but we do have:

 

• two major airports (SF and Oakland) both connected to BART (one of the best public transportation systems bar none) which provides incredible access to most any spot in the bay area sans traffic.

 

• and a temperate climate which means a great location just about anytime of the year.

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I think if we have everyone vote on the location....Vegas!!!! LOL

 

I wouldn't complain if it was in Vegas, but I wouldn't want to be there during the summer... :(

 

--Marky

 

Yeah, Vegas would be great in Oct/Nov or March/April. Maybe ou8alizzard will volunteer for next year :(

Or maybe you could do it? 99% of the work is done by phone.

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Don't forget we also have whale sharks.

 

Is that what they are calling geocachers now? :(

 

Some of the posts in this thread have brought up some issues that may be solvable (such as having in the fall or when kids are out of school). We should air them out to see what people want and then come up with some sort of process to evaluate a couple of likely locations.

 

99% of the work is done by phone.

 

Local participation and knowledge is an essential element, but yes, alot of preparation can be coordinated from afar.

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Don't forget we also have whale sharks.

 

Is that what they are calling geocachers now? :(

 

 

Depends on the cacher. I have met some cachers that are very aggressive and than some that are not. I actually met one cacher over the weekend that I tried to pass a TB to because it needs to head north but he refused to take it.

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I think if we have everyone vote on the location....Vegas!!!! LOL

 

I wouldn't complain if it was in Vegas, but I wouldn't want to be there during the summer... :(

 

--Marky

 

Yeah, Vegas would be great in Oct/Nov or March/April. Maybe ou8alizzard will volunteer for next year :(

 

I like to go to Vegas, but it's not a place for kids and it's very hot in the summer. We go there for Black Hat which is held the last week of July every year. We don't take our girls with us.

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I think it would be great if the next Geocoinfest was a whole weekend long event. I didn't get a chance to meet half of the people who attended and that really bummed me out. I'd prefer for the event to be anywhere in the West or Midwest. Since I'm from a fairly small city I found the traffic all around the area a bit overwhelming, it'd be nice if we could have it in a less trafficed area.

 

It would be great if the geocachers with children could attend also without having to pull their kids out of school. The first weekend of spring break might be nice or sometime in the summer too.

 

I really liked that the Temecula Event was the next day, since it gave me a chance to see new friends again before we went our separate ways. Since I'm an east coaster, I went in to Geocoinfest only having met about 4 people there prior to the event. Walking into a sea of new faces with semi familiar names is just a little overwhelming when you're by yourself. The coin quest was a great way to help break the ice. I started it solo and finished with new friends.

 

As far as scheduling it so families can attend, it's going to be pretty difficult outside of the month of July. We always started school in August and finished in May, but my cousins who lived up north started in September and finished in June. Some schools don't get a spring break either, since they give time off for local holidays like Mardi Gras or bowl game days. Your best bets for accommodating families with school kids are probably going to be Labor Day weekend, or the extended weekend breaks at Thanksgiving or Easter.

 

The 2007-2008 school calendars should be available now or will be very shortly, so maybe the parents interested in going to Geocoinfest next year could post their holiday dates so we can find a common one?

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It would be great if the geocachers with children could attend also without having to pull their kids out of school. The first weekend of spring break might be nice or sometime in the summer too.

One problem with spring break is that not all locations hold it at the same time. My daughter's coincides with Easter in April (but this year she is loosing 3 of the days to make up their snow days). My nieces (who live in MI) have their spring break in March, and my sister-in-law (teacher) has hers a week after her children's break. I have to admit that one reason that we did not go was that we did not want to pull her out of school. She started state standardized testing that week, and she would've had to make it up, plus she would've been exhausted.

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I've heard everything is insanely expensive in Vegas... and I personally have never viewed it as kid friendly, but thats just me. (I dont think I would ever go to Vegas unless I had a darn good reason to...)

 

Some good points have been made however - It will be interesting to see what develops.

 

Paula

 

Time of year can make Vegas very inexpensive. October and November are decent pricing.

 

Don't rule out Chicago. You could get 2 or 3 caching friends and volunteer yourself ;) August or September would be nice in the Windy City!

Edited by AtlantaGal
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February poses problems with weather (I discovered that firsthand) and limits where an event can be held. What are people's thoughts on kicking around ideas for fall:

 

late August before school starts

Labor Day weekend --- would people travel for it?

A regular weekend in September

mid-October Columbus Day weekend (3 day weekend for some)

 

I know all 4 of these options have pros and cons so let's hear them

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School starts at the crack of August down here. Usually the 1st or 2nd Thursday of the month. If it was too far away and in August I probably would not take the girls out of school since they would have just started the year.

 

We do have 3 day weekend for Columbus day and Labor Day...those would work.

 

As for Feb we had a 4 day weekend for GeocoinFest this year. Each year we get Presidents Day off and they usually give us the Friday before that also. So if we would have flown our kids would have missed no school but we had more fun driving.

 

Our spring break is not the same week every year so it is hard to plan around that. Not to mention no 2 school districts have the same breaks.

 

I think Labor Day, Columbus Day or a week in mid to late June would work. July is too hot in most places.

 

Really Labor Day would be nice because then you could kick off the summer with a MEGA geo-event (Geowoodstock) and end the summer with one too. ;)

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February poses problems with weather (I discovered that firsthand) and limits where an event can be held. What are people's thoughts on kicking around ideas for fall:

 

late August before school starts

Labor Day weekend --- would people travel for it?

A regular weekend in September

mid-October Columbus Day weekend (3 day weekend for some)

 

I know all 4 of these options have pros and cons so let's hear them

 

Labor Day is usually the first weekend in September - 1st and 3rd weekends are out because DiB has kid duty those weekends.

 

Columbus Day - that's usually the 1st weekend too - so that would be out...

 

this is looking like the fates don't want me to go ;)

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I really hope it is not during the winter months again. I think the weather kept a lot of people from attending.

 

I hope so also. Originally when we began planning in another area in August we were hoping this would be a 2006 event in Novemeber or early December. But that never materialized into anything. Only problem with the summer months is the existance of other events like GW and MWGB. I actually would love to see GeocoinFest become an Autumn event.

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I really hope it is not during the winter months again. I think the weather kept a lot of people from attending.

 

I hope so also. Originally when we began planning in another area in August we were hoping this would be a 2006 event in Novemeber or early December. But that never materialized into anything. Only problem with the summer months is the existance of other events like GW and MWGB. I actually would love to see GeocoinFest become an Autumn event.

 

Not sure there is an ideal time for families with kids to attend except possibly mid to late June, but as others mentioned you have other events immediately before and after that time period. Labor Day weekend would also be tough as some areas start school in August and others begin the Tuesday after Labor Day. I do like the idea of a fall event, definitely not during the winter months.

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I still think the east coast and west coast event idea is a good one....

 

Can you explain that a little more... were you meaning west coast in february and east coast in the fall etc?

 

I like Labor Day weekend since it's 3 days and there is no large event near it. The weather is usually cooperative that time too. <_<

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Yeah, something like that. A west coast event when it's cold elsewhere perhaps and a fall event for the east coast. Then people can still go to a major coin event without breaking the bank and travelling across the country. Or if they want to turn it into a vacation, then they can do that too.

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February poses problems with weather (I discovered that firsthand) and limits where an event can be held. What are people's thoughts on kicking around ideas for fall:

 

late August before school starts

Labor Day weekend --- would people travel for it?

A regular weekend in September

mid-October Columbus Day weekend (3 day weekend for some)

 

I know all 4 of these options have pros and cons so let's hear them

 

I'd go with Labor Day, since it would probably be best for parents/teachers and probably likely to have the best weather regardless of the location. There's just so much that goes on these days in the first 6-8 weeks of school that would make it hard for a parent to justify taking their kids out for a non emergency. Some of us are lucky enough to family who can visit and make sure our kids go to school while we take a long weekend off, but I don't think most parents have that option.

 

I wouldn't mind having the coin event happen twice a year, once on each coast. It's not a perfect solution, since it probably doesn't help the midwesterners. But I could see more people on whatever the coast the event is on feel that it's doable if it's within about a 1200-1500mi drive. With two+ drivers, that isn't a bad drive, and it's still doable solo.

 

I would travel for it whenever and wherever it is. But then again, my road trip to Geocoinfest and back will end up falling just shy of 7k miles, so maybe I'm not the best person to ask <_<.

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You might want to poll the sponsors and see how they feel about twice a year. This event was 85% funded by sponsorships and that's a lot of money to ask for twice in a calendar year, IMO.

 

As I've said earlier, if this event could have happened in late 2006 as originally intended, then Labor Day 2007 or any time in the Fall of 2007 probably wouldn't be much of an issue. However, given the fact that it happened already in 2007, I'd strongly advise waiting till 2008. And that's even if it means the next one won't occur for longer 12 months.

 

Currently, the vendors will need the next 6-8 months to assess the residual effects of their sponsorships and decide if this was a worthwhile venture for them.

Edited by AtlantaGal
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