Looking Forward To Event Caches Again

[+Lostboy1966 104]

Having recently gotten back into the game out of boredom due to this <expletive deleted> virus, I find myself looking forward to returning to the 'before times', and attending a good old burger-joint based Event Cache. Someday soon, I hope...

[+The Jester 618]

Well, around here we're starting to have a few events, but they have to be outside with limited size groups (per county covid guidelines).  Strangely, you can't say you'll limit the group to the county limit as that would "exclude cachers" (against GC rules), but if the "will attends" exceed the county limit the event will have to be cancelled (which excludes all cachers). 

[+baer2006 932]

4 hours ago, The Jester said:

Well, around here we're starting to have a few events, but they have to be outside with limited size groups (per county covid guidelines).  Strangely, you can't say you'll limit the group to the county limit as that would "exclude cachers" (against GC rules), but if the "will attends" exceed the county limit the event will have to be cancelled (which excludes all cachers). 

What?! Does that mean, that it can go like this:

• Event is published
• WA logs come in
• 30 minutes before the start of the event, two more WA's push the count above the limit
• => Event cancelled!

That doesn't make sense at all, so I guess I missed something here.

[+GeoElmo6000 299]

13 hours ago, Lostboy1966 said:

Having recently gotten back into the game out of boredom due to this <expletive deleted> virus, I find myself looking forward to returning to the 'before times', and attending a good old burger-joint based Event Cache. Someday soon, I hope...

 

Each summer I usually host two ice cream socials but haven't hosted one since 2019.  I've hosted 16 ice cream socials in the same location, a great homemade ice cream shop nearby.

 

I also enjoy hosting GIFF events, I rent a movie theater out and people donate to help pay for it.  I'm in NJ but I get attendees from NJ, NY, PA, and CT regularly.  It's a lot of fun.

 

Of my 102 geocache hides, 40 have been events.  I've learned that "if you host it, they will come.  And talk about geocaching."

[+Asgoroth 3]

Here in Georgia we have continued to have events through most of this CDC soft coup. 

[+K13 1063]

I'm hosting my Spring Fish Fry soon with about 45 folks expected. We expect a few more than that the next day for our CITO & Community Celebration Event.

Come on out to East Texas!

[+The Jester 618]

14 hours ago, baer2006 said:

What?! Does that mean, that it can go like this:

• Event is published
• WA logs come in
• 30 minutes before the start of the event, two more WA's push the count above the limit
• => Event cancelled!

That doesn't make sense at all, so I guess I missed something here.

I don't know the timing, but county guidelines do limit outside groups to a maximum (to keep this generic I won't list our's - but it's more than a handful or two, or three).  So the reviewer who told me to remove the count verbiage (to limit to county guidelines), said that they don't expect attendance to exceed the limit, but if it does the event may have to be canceled.  Mine is more that halfway to that limit - since we haven't had any events for a year, people are excited to start again and signing up.

[+K13 1063]

24 minutes ago, The Jester said:

I don't know the timing, but county guidelines do limit outside groups to a maximum (to keep this generic I won't list our's - but it's more than a handful or two, or three).  So the reviewer who told me to remove the count verbiage (to limit to county guidelines), said that they don't expect attendance to exceed the limit, but if it does the event may have to be canceled.  Mine is more that halfway to that limit - since we haven't had any events for a year, people are excited to start again and signing up.

Privately send missives to all friends who have logger Will Attend, asking them to change to a Note. That will save face with your reviewer, and still leave room for others to log WA.

[+Viajero Perdido 945]

No (publicized) events from me until the stupid is all gone. 

[+barefootjeff 4222]

1 hour ago, The Jester said:

I don't know the timing, but county guidelines do limit outside groups to a maximum (to keep this generic I won't list our's - but it's more than a handful or two, or three).  So the reviewer who told me to remove the count verbiage (to limit to county guidelines), said that they don't expect attendance to exceed the limit, but if it does the event may have to be canceled.  Mine is more that halfway to that limit - since we haven't had any events for a year, people are excited to start again and signing up.

 

I don't know whether there's anything similar in other parts of the world, but here (New South Wales, Australia), for outdoor gatherings above the freely-allowed limit (currently 200 people), the organisers can complete and lodge a COVID-safe plan which then allows up to 5000 people.

[+niraD 3481]

37 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

No (publicized) events from me until the stupid is all gone.

That's going to take a long, LONG time...

[+Viajero Perdido 945]

Unpublicized events have a huge advantage: no two-week rule. 

[+niraD 3481]

11 minutes ago, Viajero Perdido said:

Unpublicized events have a huge advantage: no two-week rule. 

Yeah, in the San Francisco Bay Area, we called them "unevents". We scheduled various unevents that could not be listed on the geocaching.com site.

[+baer2006 932]

14 hours ago, The Jester said:

I don't know the timing, but county guidelines do limit outside groups to a maximum (to keep this generic I won't list our's - but it's more than a handful or two, or three).  So the reviewer who told me to remove the count verbiage (to limit to county guidelines), said that they don't expect attendance to exceed the limit, but if it does the event may have to be canceled.  Mine is more that halfway to that limit - since we haven't had any events for a year, people are excited to start again and signing up.

*facepalm*

I mean, in a situation like this, there are basically two options:

1. Pragmatic solution: Mention your county's COVID limitations, state that therefore the number of participants is limited to x people, that this limitation is an exception in exceptional times, etc.
2. Bureaucratic solution (as in "follow the guidelines to the letter, not the intent"): No written attendance limit in the listing, basing this on a questionable assumption ("don't expect attendance to exceed the limit"), and threatening to cancel the event, possibly at very short notice.

I would have chosen #1 without even thinking about it, but I'm not a reviewer. And this is probably one of many reasons why I'm never going to be one .

[+humboldt flier 86]

15 hours ago, Asgoroth said:

Here in Georgia we have continued to have events through most of this CDC soft coup. 

Good Morning ... My name is D****d T***p and I will Make Caching Great Again. 

 

As soon as I can figure out who took the batteries out of my "Electronic Tupperware Finder".  NO wait; who stole my batteries from me.

[+humboldt flier 86]

On a more serious note:

 

      "Normalcy" can't come soon enough.  The events and shared sense of community, in my opinion, is what sets caching on a higher plane than some of the other "Geo-Location" games that are out there.

 

       I miss the M&G's, CITO's etc ... touching base with the "oldsters of the game", greeting newcomers and the energy of the younger set.

 

Tales from the trails, missteps, pratfalls ... inevitably the "oh by the way I found an easier way to the cache AFTER I slogged in for XXX miles. (it really is a near drive-up"