Advice on having an events

[+Bobcat_09]

I have been living in a small town for about 2 years. I love geocaching, but can't get any of my friends or family to go with me (they aren't outdoorsy people) and solo caching is getting boring. So I would like to start having a monthly (or every other month) social event to meet others. Nothing big, but maybe just meet at the park and make it potluck snack event (everybody brings a snack or drink.) We could trade travel bugs, tell caching stories...I guess the usual. Are events usually successful in rural areas? Any suggestions? I've only been to one event so I'm not really sure how they go.

[+Isonzo Karst]

Your idea sounds good to me. You won't know til you have it how many people will come. But whoever it may be, you'll have met some local cachers, a good thing.

The first event I hosted more than 10 years ago, turn out was far larger than I was expecting. Just a get together at a small rural county park. Pretty crowd showed up. I met some people there that I still see and consider friends.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Isonzo Karst

[+flyfishercacher]

My wife and I are new full-time RVers. We winter in Florida, then spend the rest of the year roaming and working around the continental US. Summer of 2014 found us in north-central Pennsylvania. Our lifestyle makes it impractical to put out a geocache, so I decided to sponsor an event cache (a Meet and Greet). The following paragraphs are my blog entry recording the event results

 

Lewisburg Meet and Greet Recap (GC5CKED)

 

Our first event is in the books. I consider it a success although my universe for comparison is very small. Everyone who responded showed up and we had some interesting discussions. They represent a total of 15,143 caches found and the two hosts are way behind the other folks.

Dig Teamsters (Gale) -- 9,280

2catsnj (Nancy and Jay) -- 4,614

trscorbin -- 413

the brawlers -- 188

C-Squared Pirates (Clare, Chris, and Callie) -- 439

pacardshark (Burt) -- 134

MnsfldDad (Bill) -- 8

flyfishercacher (Bob and Michelle) -- 67

 

All attendees were Geocachers. No Letterboxers showed up. Shame. Our letterbox "followthecougar" is still waiting for its first stamp.

 

I put out my first Munzee right at the event coordinates. No one came prepared to find it, in fact no one even knew what MUNZEE was all about.

 

2catsnj brought TB 5Z2X7 "Eva's Wave Rider Racer" to our event. Here is the description for this TB

"I'm in a race with 4 other travel bug cars! We started in York, Pa. and we are racing to the Pacific Ocean and back. Please help me on my journey and help me finish first! I must touch the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and then make it back to a geocache somewhere in York County, Pa. I get extra points for every photograph that gets uploaded of me with a different geocacher, so please document your part of my journey and share it. Thanks for your help!"

This TB was launched in York, PA, just 87 miles south of here, on 10 Nov 2013. It has made zero progress west. MnsfldDad will take it to Texas in a couple weeks. That should help.

 

trscorbin picked up my TB61D99 "Wounded Warrior 2", but my three remaining Healing Waters TBs are still in the nest.

 

Michelle's and my name tags got discovered, as did car window decals belonging to me, MansfldDad, and the brawlers.

 

I was very surprised to learn that none of these local geocachers had met each other. They all knew each other's handle and had found each other's caches but never met in person. It took two out-of-towners like me and MnsfldDad to make that happen. Someone local needs to step up and sponsor more events.

 

I learned a lot about putting on an event.–

Pick a public location with parking and restrooms and not requiring a permit

Get the listing up early

Make up signs to assure that your site is easily found

I made up a checklist so that I didn't forget anything

Check the site the day before to verify condition

 

Maybe we'll do another one in Florida.

[+Calypso62]

I like your idea of a simple event. My first event I hosted was something similar, at a local park, although mine was over lunch and I asked attendees to BYO all food and drink requirements. I had about 20 people show up. I still run that event on an annual basis. Last time I had about 70 cachers show up. If you are going to make this a regular monthly (or bi-monthly) event, perhaps you could gather at a local café/restaurant. Nothing necessarily too fancy. A place where you don't have to get dressed up too much and caters for kids too. Everyone could enjoy a meal and a chat for 1-2 hours.

 

I've seen it written somewhere, (probably on these forums), "host an event.... and they will come!!"

 

Good luck with your planning.

Edited November 14, 2014 by Calypso62