The Letchworth Fall Gathering will take place in beautiful
Letchworth State Park near Mt. Morris, New York. The gathering will
be a great opportunity for cachers to meet and greet with one
another during the peak of the autumn colors! As with past years
the event will occur in the same pavilion – at the South Highbanks
area near the Mt. Morris entrance to the Park. We have a full day
of fun activities planned, so read on to learn more!
Information about Letchworth Park’s Facilities:
Letchworth State Park opens at 6am and closes at 10pm. Please
note that after 8am there is an entrance fee per car to enter the
park. If you are interesting in camping or cabin rental, you can
call the Park at 1-800-456-2267, or the Highbanks Tent and Trailer
(camping) at 1-800-237-3303.
There are also campgrounds and motels outside the Park in nearby
Mt. Morris and Perry, New York.
Please note that this year due to New York State’s fiscal
challenges there will be limited camping permitted in the park as
many of the campsites will be closed – so if you are interested in
staying at the Park call ASAP to see if there are any sites
available!
The event pavilion is the same as previous years and is located
at the South Highbanks area near the Mt. Morris Entrance to the
Park. Please note that pets are permitted in the Park but are
prohibited from all Park buildings including pavilions, cabins and
recreational facilities. The pavilion can accommodate nearly 200
people and is furnished with tables, charcoal grills, running water
and electric outlets as well as restrooms and a playground nearby
for the kids. There is also a fireplace inside the pavilion, so
firewood donations are currently being accepted!
For those "early birds" who arrive to the event at the crack of
dawn, there will be breakfast refreshments available (coffee,
pastries, etc.)
Lunch and Food Donations:
Lunch will be a potluck affair, and will begin around 12noon.
Everybody should bring a dish to share (such as hamburgers,
hotdogs, rolls, beverages, salads, desserts, charcoal/charcoal
starter, etc.) Click on the link below to let us know what food
items you will be bringing so we can keep track. We will keep this
updated as the gathering approaches to summarize what others have
graciously contributed (so we don’t end up with 100 hotdog rolls
and no dogs to put in them!) Volunteers will also be needed to cook
food on the grills adjoining the pavilion.
Click on this to tell us what you will be donating to the potluck
lunch!
Raffle Drawing:
The raffle drawing will be held at approximately 1pm (following
lunch). As always the iconic Roadkill and his infamous cap will
preside as the Master of Ceremonies! For those of you who have
attended previous gatherings, you know exactly what kind of great
raffle items we have given out in the past. For example, last year
we raffled off homemade hiking sticks, arrowheads and crafts in
addition to GPS units, flashlights, survival gear, hiking
paraphernalia, cache containers/swag and so much more.
Raffle Donations – Those wishing to donate raffle prizes,
please contact us via email and let us know so we can help
coordiante who would like to contribute what. Keep an eye out here
for a list of the awesome prizes we’ll have available!
Group Picture:
At 1:30pm after lunch is over we will gather everyone together
to take a group picture. Please stick around after lunch so you can
be memorialized as a Letchworth Fall Gathering attendee just like
last year’s crew!
Dinner:
This year we will be holding a dinner at 6pm for everyone who
has spent the day out caching. We’ve been very fortunate to get a
donation of pizza to feed all the hungry cachers who have returned
back from the trail – so those cachers that will be attending
dinner should log their attendance on the cache page so we know how
much pizza we will need to order!
The Fine Print and other Valuable Tidbits of
Information:
Pre-Gathering Event – Returning for a fourth consecutive
year, event attendees can pre-game the gathering by joining fellow
geocachers at the
4th Annual Osage Campfire and Camping Event - GC1Y5WN.
Check out the cache page for more information – you won’t want to
miss this pre-event!
Post-Gathering Events – Throughout the years, some
attendees have hosted bonfires on Saturday night after the
gathering is over. Keep an eye out on the cache page notes to see
who may be planning what!
Gathering-Only Event Caches – As in the past we will have
some great event only caches hidden for the gathering. This year
the event caches will not be available for logging online, BUT will
be tied to special raffle prizes that will only be awarded to those
that find the event caches! Coordinates for the event caches will
be provided at the pavilion the day of the event.
Garbage - Letchworth State Park is a carry in, carry
out park, so any garbage etc. that we bring in we must clean up
and remove. As visitors to the Park we are responsible for this
clean up, so we will have many large black plastic bags on hand for
this purpose.
Alcohol - We will allow some alcohol in moderation for
adults as with previous events. (Gamma Kitt had to sign a special
permit for that – and since the State Trooper Barracks are right
next door we can’t bear the thought of her trying to explain any
riff-raff to the police! HEE! HEE!)
Travel Bugs – If you will be bringing travel bugs to the
event, there will be a table manned by volunteers who will be
logging in and out every travel bug that is dropped off. We ask
that if you leave a travel bug, you pick up a travel bug to ensure
that every one is accounted for and that none of them go
missing!
We can't wait to see you all there!