International Geocaching Day & Not At The Bock Party... AGAIN!!

This past Saturday (August 16th) was the third Saturday in August.  To geocachers this means a couple of things!  First it is what we celebrate as International Geocaching Day, and secondly it is the Block Party Weekend at Geocaching HQ in Seattle. While many geocachers head down to party it up with the hundreds of other cachers, others sadly cannot. We The GO! Team are the latter of those, and have been for the last four years. We have talked about it, we have even began to save up to travel down.  But for four years either something got in the way, or it just turned out to be a pipe dream. But this worries us not!  Just because we are not at the Block Party does not me we miss out on International Geocaching Day.  So what we did was host a geocaching event (one that was greatly needed for the Seven Souvenirs of August) and throw our own party.  So to the planning board we went.

For those that have never hosted a geocaching event before, there is not much needed to make it happen.

First you need your location, so choose one and head out to the spot and mark a waypoint with your GPSr to get the coordinates.  If it is in a park or on a beach it would also be wise to use the internet or read signs for the park rules.  Some parks and beaches don't allow for dogs during summer months, and they may have other rules that are important to know too.  

Next plan your start and end time, as new rules on geocaching.com make this important.  Ensure your event doesn't have a personal or professional agenda, as this is a geocaching.com no no too!  You are however allowed to host an event for the purpose of just getting together to celebrate and have fun.  

And then come up with what you want to suggest to your potential attendees.   For example you intend to bring snacks and drinks, you may want to suggest that if any of them would like to contribute by bringing something to share that is would be greatly appreciated!  Lastly make your event listing (just like creating a cache page on geocaching.com) and submit it. 

Through this process ""Not At The Block Party... AGAIN!" Event - GC58ZK6" was born.  Not our first event ever, and certainly not our first event on International Geocaching Day!  But what turned out to be one of our most successful events to date!

In the few weeks leading up to the event, I planned out some some food and drink.  But something was missing!  And then my father Postie Bear from Comox suggested "Why not a cake"!  I told him he was brilliant, because people have brought cake in the past to my International Geocaching Day events before.  So why not ensure one is there by getting it ourselves.  And with that, my dad took it upon himself to arrange the cake for the event. So all of you readers that were at the event and enjoyed that tasty treat, you can thank Postie Bear for making that happen.

Finally the day of the event arrived.  And with all of the treats and drinks loaded up, we headed out to Mount Douglas Park where the event was to take place.  While we were early; in true geocacher form, so were many of our attendees.  And with that we got the party started.










A big shout out goes to the many geocachers that travelled down to the south island from Cowichan/Duncan, Ladysmith, Nanaimo, Comox/Courtenay, Campbell River.  Also to those vacationing on the island from various locations in Canada and the US.  To our sole visitor from the Gulf Islands (Salt Spring), we welcome you as well.  And if I missed anymore of you from any other location, we welcome you too.
Also a big thanks to JRAV owner and administrator for VIGPS.com for also popping into the event.  We don't get to see you often, so it was a pleasure to have you there.  Also a big thanks for the gift of that Vancouver Island Geocacher  tee-shirt!  I will have to take some pics of it on and post it on our Facebook page!

As we setup the table with treats, beverages, and trackables, more people arrived with even more to contribute.  And so constant resetting of the table was needed, but I have to say we had an impressive spread.  We let the time pass and mingled with our many guests, trying to talk with old friends and meet new ones too.  This can prove to be difficult sometimes; so if we didn't make our way over to you, I extend an apology!   I know my father was trying to keep up with a head count, but eventually even he could not keep up anymore.

After the one hour mark I announced that we were going to cut the cake, and that anyone interested wanted any to just head over at their leisure.











Shortly after cake cutting my dad and his friend CurlyQ42 had left the scene and went for a couple of caches deeper into the park.  During that time more people came as others left; and slowly the clock ticked down to the two hour mark.  This signalled the end of the event, and as people began to leave I begged them to take the many foods that were left over home.  Luckily my begging was not really needed, and that food disappeared fast.

As I cleaned up I noticed dad and CurlyQ42 were not back yet, so I gave them a call and asked for their return.  And once they were back we headed out for our adventure of the day, which is an entirely different blog all together.

Thank you everyone who attended the event, you made it a smashing success.  There was over 60 people in total in attendance through out the day!!  And a big thanks to all our readers for taking the time and reading about our adventures!