Hall of Fame Picnic 4 Event Cache

The lists are complete. I have counted 10 teams. There will only be ONE extra packet, so if you are coming please post by midnight tonight and who you are teaming with, or I might not have an extra packet for the photo part. I will deal with that situation if it comes up, however. Outside of that, the picnic is open to everyone!

Can you believe it's year 4 already of the Hall of Fame Picnic? Come out and enjoy the day with us as we cache, have fun and... of course eat and mingle. As always, we'll have something to offer the cachers coming to the event!As always, we try and have this on the weekend of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Inductions in hopes of maybe drawing a few traveling people in for our event.

Each year for the picnic, we try and do something appealing for geocachers coming into our area. We've had large amounts of new caches places, competitions and games. This year is no different as we'll have an all-day competition/game that will end with the annual pot-luck picnic.

Please post what you'll be bringing. If it's something that requires staying cold, please let me know so I have the right amount of coolers available if you plan on dropping it off at the beginning of the challenge. If you are only coming to the event portion, that begins at 2:45 p.m.

NOTE FOR THOSE PARTICIPATING IN THE WHOLE DAY -- THE MORNING MEETUP IS AT NEAHWA PARK. SEE COORDINATES BELOW!!!

The game this year?

A photo scavenger hunt.

Are you up for a challenge?

An adventure?

A whole lot of fun?

Hopefully, this event will allow you to have all of the above.

This is an all-day geocaching adventure/scavenger hunt/photo hunt. The object will be to fill the list that you are given on the day of the event. Each item is worth a certain amount of points and to verify, you'll have to take a photo.

Of each item on the list.

Any camera will do. A point-and-shoot. A phone. A DSLR. Heck, you can even use a regular camera if you think you can get everything done in time to drop the film off at one of the local spots to get one-hour developing done! A digital camera would be best, however.

The lists will include geocaches, geocachers, local landmarks, and silly ideas. They might require you to talk to a stranger. They might require you to really use your imagination. Or, they might really be there to test your ability to think outside the box and react to being silly!

Who knows?

This is a team challenge. Teams will be two to four people with no more than two geocaching names. So if Geocacher A consists of two people and Geocacher B consists of one person, that can be a team but no more can be added to the team. A full family under one name with more than four members will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Please e-mail me or see me the morning of the event.

8:45 a.m.:Sign in begins at Neahwa Park in Oneonta.

9:15 a.m.: Rules discussed, teams get packets.

9:30 a.m.: All teams sent off to compete in the challenge.

10 a.m.: Final time that late-arriving teams can leave to compete.

2:45 p.m.: Teams can start checking in with their photos at Fortin Park. The "official" picnic also starts here, for those not competing in the challenge. (all at the hangar pavilion nearest to the parking lot. Other things are going on in the other hangars, so parking will be at a premium).

3:30 p.m.: All teams must be checked in by this time.

3:40 p.m.: Food!

4:15ish: Awards, door prizes.

Please note, Fortin Park is a carry in, carry out park. That means we need to clean up after ourselves. Please make sure you take anything that you brought and help clean up. It's much appreciated.

If you plan on donating anything for the giveaway, please see me when you check in for the challenge or when you arrive for the picnic (if not taking part in the challenge). I want everything that is being donated to be in the same group under one giveaway. Thanks.

If you are taking part in the challenge, things are simple.

Your team will get a packet. In the packet will be a list of items that you need to photograph. Some will be geocaching related. Some won't. They will each be assigned a point total, based on difficulty. Though there will be some things that repeat, each packet will have different things. Each packet will have high-point items that will require a little bit of travel, too.

Each packet will have the same available points.

Tiebreakers: Each packet will have certain "hits." That is each "hit" has an added bonus of being a tiebreaker. Nobody will know what they are besides those doing all of the tabulating. Teams getting these bonuses will get "tiebreaker" points that don't add to the total, but in the case of a tie, the tiebreaker points will break the tie.

Each packet will also have a sealed envelope with a bonus item. This item will ONLY count if it's needed. So, if a couple of teams come back with the maximum amount of points and are, obviously, tied with tiebreaker points, we go to the sealed envelope. Each envelope will randomly be awarded a number (based on number of teams). The highest point winner will win, and so on down the line. This is totally random and the final tiebreaker.

Certain packets will also randomly have an FTF envelope slipped into it. This will be an unpublished (it will be published that night, hopefully) geocache somewhere within 25 miles of Oneonta. For those that have these, getting an FTF will be one of the items on the list. (If somebody would like to hide a cache and donate the page to this challenge, please let me know. Also, ask the Admin to publish it the night of the event, after 6 p.m.)

Teams can be made up of no more than two (2) geocaching names and four (4) people. So if two singular caches join forces, that's it. Two geocaching teams of two can join together or a geocaching team of three and a singular cacher -- as long as there are no more than two (2) caching names and four (4) people.

The rest is pretty simple. Have fun. Enjoy yourselves!

NOTE: PLEASE bring some something where I can take the photos off your camera/phone/memory card. I will have a card reader, so if you have a memory card, that will be easy. If you have something that needs a cable, please bring it. I plan on taking all of these photos and making them into a stop-action movie to put on the cache page when all is said and done -- and hopefully show them off at the event, too. I will have a laptop with me to get all of this goodness!

FIRST: Fully-stocked ammo can.

SECOND: Fully-stocked lock-n-lock.

THIRD: A ready-to-use micro or small cache.

You do NOT have to participate in the challenge to come and log this event. You just need to come at 2:45 p.m., when I'll have the log ready to go for people to sign! If you are not participating in the challenge, you can't sign the log until the log officially starts at 2:45 p.m.

IF you are not participating in the photo portion of the event, but would like to help some, please let me know as I'll be able to use some help.

Also, if anyone has a small generator, please let me know as I could probably use some juice for my laptop when everyone is checking in!

HFam: Chips; monet: macaroni salad and a dessert; wardrums: hamburgers, hot dogs and buns; Bear13820: tater tot casserole; Art Fully Bare: Fruit platter; softball29: Water

Note: we have most paper ware etc. from previous events. I will go through the supplies soon and see if we need anything.