Plan to Attend GeoFest Midwest
September 26
Arrrrrr…
This year's theme is all about pirates! Enjoy logging up to 30 new
caches, meeting other geocachers from the region, take a travel
bug, enjoy entertainment around the bonfire and more. Much like the
game of Clue ® help determine “who done it” –
was it Captain Davy Jones on the Black Pearl with the dagger? We
won't tell!
We will start at 8 a.m. Saturday morning with registration at
the Pebble Lake Picnic Shelter. We’ll provide coffee, juice,
rolls and a laptop for downloading the coordinates from GSAK. We
have 27 new caches ready to be disclosed that morning. (We have
submitted 11 of them as permanent caches and hope to hear soon if
approved). You will have until 4 p.m. to find as many as possible
and to turn in your sheet of evidence. At 5 p.m. we’ll start
Happy Hour (cache bar!) at the Eagles – which conveniently in
Fergus Falls – is a ship! We promise not to make you walk the
plank (at least not until later in the evening). We will be selling
tickets for supper in the a.m. – but ask that you indicate on
the registration - at www.GeoFestMidwest.com whether or not you
(and a guest/s) will join us for supper. We’re putting
together a menu including shredded pork sandwich, coleslaw, chips,
dessert and lemonade – for $11 per person. We also encourage
you to come in costume for the awards and supper.
PRIZES – will be awarded in many categories including
first to finds, best costume, youngest/oldest, geocacher from
farthest away, etc. AND of course the winner of the guessing game.
This year we are adding travel bugs – 10 in 2009 and 5 each
year after. They will start in one (well, 10) of the 27 caches. If
you find a travel bug and can advance its mission, we’ll
assign it to you and track its progress throughout the year on
Geocaching.com. We’ll have more prizes for the missions (most
hides, farthest away, etc.). And a super prize if YOU and the
TRAVEL BUG both make it back for 2010 GeoFest Midwest (not
together, of course)! Many businesses have donated prizes for Sat.
night.
SWAG – lots of swag – especially for the kids this
year. And we are using the HANDICACHING rating system to assist you
with the level of difficulty for each cache.
TSHIRTS – will be for sale again. This year they are
long-sleeved, black with silver writing on them. Tshirts cost $15
each and can be purchased that morning and at the awards supper
(and learning from last year – we have ordered some in
children’s sizes).
SUNDAY – hope we don't disappoint, but last year’s
virtual cache on Sunday wasn't the smash we had hoped for so this
year Sunday is a free-day. And with 1,513 caches within a 100 mile
radius of Fergus Falls, we know most of you will want to cache your
way home or log as many as possible before you leave. If not, we
invite you to the Fall Festival at Lindig Farms
(www.lindigfarms.com). Or enjoy the fall colors (and more
cache’s) at Maplewood Park during their annual Leaf Days
celebration. (If you are in town Friday night, visit A Center for
the Arts to see the film "Whatever Works." Check www.fergusarts.org
for details).
LOCAL CONNECTION - it's fun to see local Fergus Falls people
learn about geocaching. This year our Community Ed program began a
class on geocaching. This one-night session $10/family is September
17th. Call 218-998-0544 x1600 if you want more information about
this. Thanks to our friends in Crosslake for sharing a presentation
that helped make this possible!
What are we forgetting? Need a place to stay – our many
hotels and the campground would love to have you visit. Check out
the Convention & Visitors Bureau web site for more info
www.visitfergusfalls.com.
Thanks for participating – see you soon!
QUESTIONS? Call 800-726-8959 for more detail. If you know of a
geocacher who would like to come, please invite them along. There
is no fee to participate and the more the merrier!
