It’s 15 minutes of fun, frivolity, and community creation that many geocachers anticipate each year. The 9th geocaching World Wide Flash Mob (WWFM) this year is on June 9th.
According to the creators of the WWFM, a WWFM is “… meant to be a fun ‘opposite’ of a Mega-Event. [It's] all the cool aspects of a geocaching event, crammed into 15 minutes of excitement. An added dimension is represented by the letters “WW” – World Wide. These events occur across the planet on the same day at (mostly) the same time! These caching events are intended to bring geocachers together in a creative way, as well as introduce others (newbies) to the hobby.”
WWFM History:
Flash Mob I – May 2007 – almost 200 San Diego, CA geocachers; 20 world-wide events
WWFM II – Nov 2007 – 4400 attendees at 83 events in 9 countries
WWFM III – May 2008 – almost 8000 attendees at 163 events in 15 countries
WWFM IV – Nov 2008 – 7400 people at 154 events in 20 countries
WWFM V – May 2009 – over 7000 people at 154 events in 20 countries
WWFM VI – Nov 2009 – almost 7000 people at 152 events in 21 countries
WWFM VII – May 2010 – almost 6000 people at 139 events in 19 countries
WWFM VIII - June 2011 - 9940 people at 215 events in 25 countries
NEXT SCHEDULED: WWFM IX
Saturday June 9, 2012 – 12:00 p.m. CDT
Check out the official Geocaching WWFM webpage for attendee information, news, history, and to view photos and videos from previous WWFM events from around the world!
Things you need to know:
1. Arrive early and act like muggles. Bring a frisbee, ball and glove, book to read, picnic, play with your kids on the playground, etc. and pretend that you're enjoying the day at the park. Do not congregate with other event attendees before noon! The important thing to remember is to blend in with the rest of the people at the park.
2. All attendees wishing to log this event as "attended" need to bring a slip of paper with their team name written on it to drop in the collection bucket on their way out after the photo.
Please ALSO include the number of people from your team that are in attendance so we can pass this info on to WWFM "headquarters".
3. This event starts at the stroke of noon and ends abruptly at 12:15!
4. At exactly noon, every attendee should start walking toward ground zero. Ground Zero is the park bench in the photo below--you don't have to use your GPS to get to the exact location.
5. Pull out your balloon, blow it up and start playing with it. If you cache as a team (example: husband/wife, family), only one of you need to have a balloon, but the more balloons, the better the effect will be on the muggles who won't be able to figure out what is going on. Spread out as necessary in the grassy areas between the building and playground.
6. Toss your balloon to others or just with yourself. Make balloon animals. Whatever you'd like to do with your balloon(s). We will play with our balloons for a minimum of 5 minutes, but preferably until 12:10pm. Feel free to interact with other teams and muggles during this time!
7. At 12:10pm, we will all assemble on or near the bridge (also pictured on this page) for a group photo.
8. After the photo is taken, attendees MUST leave immediately (even if the photo is taken a few minutes before 12:15pm). This is important in order to give the full effect of the flash mob. (It's ok to go back to your picnic if you brought one or back to playing on the playground, etc. Do not congregate with other event attendees after the event.)
Remember the main idea is to FLASH AND DASH, and of course make sure you have fun too!
Bring the kids! Bring some muggles who want to have some fun!
This event is wheelchair accessible (there is a sidewalk in the middle of the grassy area) and bridge is also wheelchair accessible.
*There will not be time to trade or discover trackables. You can "dip" trackables but please DO NOT drop your trackables at this event!*
Short version of the event:
12:00 – Begin walking to GZ and prepare your balloon.
- Start playing with your balloon as soon as you are in the vicinity of GZ.
12:10 – Group together quickly on the bridge for group photo(s).
12:15 - Drop attendance slip in bucket.
Promptly leave the area.
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UPDATES SINCE EVENT WAS POSTED:
1. Meet up after the event info (see Hints/Spoiler info).
2. On your attendance slip please ALSO include the number of people from your team that are in attendance.
3. There is a WWFM IX souvenir for this event.
4. See announcement from 6/4 that gives info about "a chance to win super swag-o-licious prizes!"
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