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Atlas Quest
Event #3655

Box ON! 2016 Stoney Creek ParkPotluckPet-friendlyBox-friendlyRaffle

Battlefield House Museum & Park National Historic Site, 77 King St W, Stoney Creek, ON
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Registered Boxes: All Traditional HH/Cootie/Flea Postal LTC Event Box Traveler Other
StartsSat October 1, 2016 8:00am
EndsSat October 1, 2016 5:00pm
OwnerBon EchoProfileContactLogbookNote
AdminsBon Echo
Bumble
Signups39/∞
LocationBattlefield House Museum & Park National Historic Site, 77 King St W, Stoney Creek, ON
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Battlefield Park Pavilion

Description

Theme: Canadian Heroes, Legends, and Myths

Location:

The event will be held at Battlefield House Museum & Park National Historic Site in Stoney Creek (Hamilton). It is easily accessible from the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW): Exit the QEW at Centennial Parkway and travel south to King Street. Turn left onto King Street and turn right into the first driveway. Follow the driveway around until you reach the parking area. The pavilion is located near the parking area.
http://www.google.ca/maps?q=77%20King%20St.%20West,%20Stoney%20Creek,%20ON
For more information about the park, visit:
http://www.battlefieldhouse.ca/
https://www.hamilton.ca/attractions/hamilton-civic-museums/battlefield-house-museum-park-national-historic-site

I uploaded a few photos of the park to the Event Photo Album, in case you want to have a look. I plan to add a few more soon.

Schedule

I will be updating this page with more details in the coming months. Here’s is a rough outline of what I expect the schedule to look like
  • 8 am: Registration opens at the pavilion in Battlefield Park. Clue packages will be available. Clues are available ahead of time. See bottom of this listing for details.
  • 12:30: Potluck lunch.
  • 4:30 pm: Group Photo and Raffle

Tracker for Stamps: http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?trackerId=8965
Thank-you to the very talented members for sending in so many great stamps!

Potluck Sign-up:

There will be electricity in the pavilion; keep that in mind if you need to use any small appliances.
I plan to provide coffee and tea throughout the day.I will also have water and cold drinks on hand. Consider bringing a travel mug and/or refillable water bottle.
Please sign up for the potluck if you plan to take part. If you don't yet know what you will bring, that's okay. You can always edit your Sign Up at a later date.

Bring Your Kids, Bring Your Pets, Bring your Boss

Well, maybe not the boss...okay fine, bring the boss. And please bring the kids and the pets. My three daughters are already planning fun activities for the kids, and our golden doodle puppy is looking forward to making some new friends too.

Coming by GO?

If you plan to travel to Hamilton by public transit, let me know. There is GO Transit service to Hamilton and Hamilton transit (HSR) service to the park, but it might be easier to arrange for a pick-up from one of the GO terminals (in particular, from the GO bus terminal at Nash and Barton).

Lodging:

There are a number of hotels within a short drive of the park:
- Comfort Inn 183 Centennial Pkwy. N., Hamilton, ON, L8E 1H8
- Quality Hotel 49 Goderich Road, Hamilton, ON, L8E 4W8
- Lake Trail Motel, 423 North Service Road, Stoney Creek, ON L8E 5B9
Plus a number of options downtown, along Upper James St, and in Burlington. For more information on local accommodations including B&B's and camping, click HERE
Expect to pay $100-$140 per night. You might get a better price using a service such as Priceline. Or, if you are willing to travel about 40 minutes, you might get a good deal on a room in Niagara Falls ($40 - $80) though Groupon or WagJag (multiple hotel deals are available every day on those two sites).
If you need any additional information with respect to lodging, please contact me. I’m happy to help.
Camping:
Fifty Point Conservation Area (15 kms)
Bronte Creek Provincial Park (30 kms - yurts available as well)

Are you still here?

If you plan to spend a few days in the area, here's a list of some must-see attractions; these are the places we always bring our guests when they visit from out-of-town:
First, check out this great newly-released video: Discover Hamilton #SecretsOut
Waterfalls of Hamilton:
Hamilton is home to over 100 waterfalls. For more details, visit http://www.cityofwaterfalls.ca/ or http://www.waterfalls.hamilton.ca/;
Devil's Punchbowl and Billy Green Falls are located near the park but may be a little low on water in October).
Albion Falls is probably the best waterfall for viewing in east Hamilton. Tiffany Falls and Sherman Falls are worth visiting in west Hamilton if time permits.

Views from atop the Niagara Escarpment:
Enjoy a spectacular view of Lake Ontario and the vast urban sprawl of the Golden Horseshoe from high atop the Niagara Escarpment. There are numerous pulloff along Ridge Rd (I recommend driving along Ridge Road, from Dewitt Road to Devil's Punchbowl)
For a better view of the city core, check out Sam Lawrence Park

Royal Botanical Gardens

Tim Horton Store #1, Ottawa Street Hamilton
The very first Tim Horton's store was opened on Ottawa Street in Hamilton. Today there is a new 2-story building where the original store was located. It includes a Tim Horton's "museum". Worth a visit if you like the franchise. Ottawa Street is also famous for it's many sewing and fabric shops.

Waterfront Trail along Lake Ontario
http://www.waterfronttrail.org/hamilton: The Hamilton Waterfront Trail (7.5km) along Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour, and The Hamilton Recreation Beach Trail (8km) along Lake Ontario from the Burlington Lift Bridge to Confederation Park.

Aug 18, 2016: Raffle for Box ON!

Hi everyone!

Bon Echo is currently hard at work carving, hiding, cluing, and shooing Pokemon players away from our event location - so while he's busy, I've volunteered to run the raffle :)

For those of you haven't participated in one of our Box ON! raffles before, here's how it works:
->The purpose of the raffle is to help the event organizer offset the costs associated with the event, such as the venue, the boxes, insurance, food, etc.
->In the past, people have donated everything from hand-printed t-shirts, books, letterboxing supplies, treats, and toys.
->At the event, you'll be able to see what is going to be raffled and can buy raffle tickets that will let you enter the draw.

So, do you have an item you'd like to donate? Send me an message and let me know, and make sure to bring it with you to the event :)

Looking forward to seeing everyone on the trail next month!

Cheers,
Bumble

Sep 12, 2016: 19 days until Box ON! 2016

Summer break is over, and there are fewer than 3 weeks until Box ON 2016. I have most of the stamps ready to hide, waiting for just a couple more. Still lots to do on this end but things are really starting to take shape. Every day I think up something new that could help make the event interesting and entertaining - too many ideas! We'll see how many of those get put into action. I'm working out the details on a couple things I think will be a real fun. I'll be making a few announcements over the next couple weeks as those plans are finalized.
A couple of announcements for now:
1) Please consider signing up for the pot-luck: there's still a lot of open space on there.
2) I hope to get all the clues published a day or two before the event, for those who prefer to use their phones/tablets or those wishing to get an early start on the boxes. Hard copies will be made available at the event.
3) It's not too late to carve a stamp. Contact me and we'll work out the details.
4) Don't forget about the raffle. Please contact Bumble if you have anything you'd like to donate.
Thanks!

Sep 26, 2016: 5 days until Box ON! 2016.

Here’s a quick update:

There will be over 25 traditional boxes available during the event. Most of them will be available before and after the event (some will only be available during the event and will be planted elsewhere). If you want clues ahead of time, please send me a message. I will be posting most of the boxes to AQ on Thursday (they are already entered as Reserved Boxes). I can send you a copy of the handout for printing (easier than printing all the boxes individually), or you can arrange to pick up a paper copy.

Event boxes are welcome. Feel free to list them to the event page.

So after the hottest summer on record, fall has finally decided to show up and it brought overcast skies and rainy weather. Fingers crossed that it will clear out by the weekend. The current forecast is for 40% chance of showers but total precipitation is pretty low (5-10 mm). Bring a raincoat and/or umbrella. The upside is that there will be fewer muggles about.

Bring a folding camp chairs if you have one. There are plenty of picnic tables in the pavilion but they are not the most comfortable for sitting around and chatting. Especially if the skies clear and you want to sit outside of the pavilion.

There are still some mosquitoes about, at least as of yesterday so bring bug spray just in case.

I will be at the pavilion at 8am on Saturday. The pot-luck will be at noon along with the group photo. The raffle will take place towards the end of the event, probably at 4:30 pm. Please contact Bumble if you can contribute to the raffle.

If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for the pot-luck. Just over half have signed up already - meaning there is still a lot of space to be filled to ensure we have enough food for lunch. Thanks.

Thanks and see you all Saturday! Here’s a photo of the Battlefield Monument from much earlier this year.

Sep 28, 2016: Clues
Most of the boxes are now live on AQ. They are all restricted to AQ members for now. You can view the boxes here. A few are "unavailable" since I still have the stamps with me.

You can get a copy of the clues here at Google Drive. The clues were written in Word, and some of the formatting was lost in Google Docs. If you want the original Word document, send me your email.

Finally, if you do NOT require a paper copy of the clues on Saturday, PLEASE let me know asap. I would really appreciate it, so I can decide how many copies to make. You can print the clues (from AQ or the Google doc) or save the listings to Box Radar or something along those lines.

Thanks

Sep 30, 2016: Last minute stuff...
Weather will be low teens in the morning and warming up into the low 20's tomorrow (Celsius of course). Rainfall is still predicted to be low (few mm's). Dress accordingly. I just returned from the park and can report that the trails are still pretty firm despite the recent rain. If tomorrow is anything like today it will be a fairly typical fall day. It actually was pretty decent there this afternoon and the breeze will keep the mosquitoes away.

Bring any HitchHikers you've been meaning to drop off. A HitchHiker Hotel will be available. If you can bring some info on where the HHs have been, we can hopefully see they head out in a different direction.

The clue packages are printed out. If you printed the clues (thank-you), I will have a map for you and clues to a couple event-only boxes. If you haven't printed the clues, I should have enough copies (24 copies). There are a few others not included in the package that you might want to print off:

I forgot to include the existing letterbox (War of 1812 Series: Battle of Stoney Creek Box #160742). Print the clue if you need that one. I will have a couple copies but not enough for everyone.

I created a last-minute series of easy boxes with stamps that my daughters carved. They are intended for beginners but of course any can find them. Since I already have the clue packages printed up, I won't be providing clues to everyone for this one. I will have a few copies on hand that can be borrowed. Again, print a copy if you want them. I just returned from hiding those, going to write the clues and publish the series within the next hour. http://www.atlasquest.com/showinfo.html?boxId=274456

Finally, Acorns4u will be bringing a couple boxes with her to the event. They are AQ# 273552 Max and Friends, AQ# 272628 From the Sewers...To the Streets, and AQ# 272629 A Handy Thing To Have; They will be in or near the pavilion and I will have one copy of the clues in the pavilion; print a copy if you want your own.

Thanks, see you all tomorrow for a great day of letterboxing fun!

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