WWFM VII (World Wide Flash Mob) Spring 2010 - Polka Dots at the
Pagoda
The WWFMs are coordinated geocaching events. A flash mob is a large
group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, do
something unusual for a brief period of time, then quickly
disperse. These events take place simultaneously at locations
across the globe.
The event will last exactly 15 minutes, not one second longer. The
event will begin EXACTLY at: 1:00 PM on Saturday, May 15, 2010 and
will end at EXACTLY 1:15 PM. You MUST be present and sign a log
sheet DURING this time to claim the event.
The above coordinates will take you to the designated WWFM VII
gathering place. This location is very familiar to the geocachers
in Thunder Bay and will be held outside the Thunder Bay Tourist
Pagoda.
The event will have a Polka Dot theme. Further details to be
posted.
Since this is "Polka Dots at the Pagoda" please make sure you
are wearing something with Polka Dots that are visible - anyone
willing to wear polka dots shorts on the outside of their
clothes?
Prior to the event:
• Drive to the parking area near the coordinates. Either stay
in your car or get out of your car and pretend you are a muggle.
Act like you don't know anyone else.
• At 12:59 PM make your way to the designated event
coordinates shown. Keep acting like you know no one.
• 1:00 PM - At exactly 1:00 PM as determined by the GPS clock
and a whistle blow, a container will be placed on the front steps
at the designated coordinates and a signal will be given to signify
the start of the event. You may then converge on the container for
the official event. Log sheets will be handed out. BYOP (bring your
own pen). Sign individual log sheets and drop them in the cache
bucket. Then mingle and chat with your fellow cachers.
• 1:05 PM - Bring travel bugs and or coins to exchange with
friends and or discover.
• 1:10 PM - Assemble for and take group photo. After the photo
briefly mingle & chat.
• 1:14 PM - One minute warning is called "It is now 1:14!" Log
slips will be pulled for the door prizes. FTF will be drawn at this
time. Clean up and prepare to leave. Prepare to make your grand
exit.
FTF DRAW PRIZE WILL BE AN UNACTIVATED WWFM VII GEOCOIN
• 1:15 PM - Make like a muggle and LEAVE the area! Log entries
sealed & closed. If you missed the signing you missed the
event.
Difficulty rating of 2 reflects the 15 minute allotted time period
in which to claim the cache. If you aren't prompt you could miss
it.
If your name is not on a log sheet you will not be able to log the
event.
If everything goes right we will have several people converging on
one spot for a 15 minute geocaching event and then disappearing.
This could be lots of fun and maybe even raise a few muggle
eyebrows.
The event will happen rain or shine! Please come prepared.
I have ordered 20 WWFM VII pathtags for the events. They will
be given to the first 20 geocachers to confirm their attendance and
come to the event.
I have also ordered a couple of WWFM VII Geocoins
- one will be for the FTF Draw
The event will happen rain or shine! Please come prepared.
From Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal Sunday, February 7,
2010
"Pagoda packed a punch" by Tory Tronrud: "It will breathe
publicity, radiate hope and shriek P-O-R-T A-R-T-H-U-R"
These words greeted the news in the summer of 1909 that a design
had been chosen and construction was underway on the new Port
Arthur Publicity Office (quickly dubbed 'the pagoda'). Amidst the
early twentieth-century boom at the Lakehead and spurred on by the
announcement in 1908 by the Canadian Northern Railway that it would
build a grand hotel (the Prince Arthur)city council sought public
input into ways to foster growth. This led the Daily News to winder
whether "without going to the expense of erecting an arch of
triumph of a statue of liberty it is possible that a few dollars
might be expended in improving there surroundings with profit to
the city". The result was a contest for "the most attractive sketch
of a pagoda suitable for a publicity office and information
bureau". The prize was $25.
The winning design, by H. Russell Halton (known today for such
buildings as the Lyceum Theatre and Port Arthur Collegiate) showed
"an octagonal brick structure with limestone trim. . . .
surrounding by an umbrella-shaped roof, similar to a traditional
Hindu chartri roof, and a fell-shaped cupola, both covered with
diamond-shaped metal shingles". The building opened in February
2010.
The pagoda did admirable service over the succeeding decades but
lack of maintenance almost proved its undoing. By 1975, its roof
was falling down, the inside stairs were on verge of collapse, the
floor was uneven and bats inhabited the rafters. With plans
underfoot to widen Water Street, many city couincillors began
calling for the pagoda's demolition while others urged the building
of a replica.
The sudden demolition of the nearby CPR station had many worried
that the pagoda might be next.
More than a decade of wrangling over the pagoda's future ensued
before, 1989, council, with the financial assistance of the Ontario
Heritage Foundation, finally agreed to restore the original
structure. Today the Pagoda remains the oldest
continuously-operating tourist information building in
Canada.
Incidentally, three times in the pagoda's history, polka dots were
painted as a prank on its roof: in 1961 by the Port Arthur Jaycees,
and again in 1973 and 1985. Each time, after an interval, the dots
were removed.
