Use this board to learn the latest about upcoming events from around the country—or around the world! Cross posting, generally, is frowned on in message boards, so I'd like to stress that in this case, it's actually encouraged! Announcements for events should be posted to the board for the part of the country where the event is to take place, but also post it here so others outside of that area also know about it.

Probably too late for most of you to find out, but I thought I'd get this board started!

The First Annual Western New York GAthering is Saturday, Nov. 13 at Rotary Park in Middleport, NY from 10am to 5pm. You can check our webpage for clues and details!

http://www.geocities.com/dasprite222/boxhome.htm

Hope to see you all there!

The Sprite & the Highlander

So, how was the gathering? Did it Rain? Did a bunch of people show up? Was there an awesome event stamp and who carved it? What kind of food did ya have?
Tell ALL!
:-)
-Amanda from Seattle

So, how was the gathering? Did it Rain? Did a bunch of people show up? Was there an awesome event stamp and who carved it? What kind of food did ya have?
Tell ALL!
:-)
-Amanda from Seattle


Forgot to reply to this one! :-) Let's see if I covered everything...

It was FANTASTIC! No rain, but VERY cold for at least half the day, then just regular cold for the other half (we upstate New Yorkers scoff at such temperatures...but my toes were NOT pleased!!!) :-) We didn't have the huge numbers (only about 50 folks), but that made it SOOOO much better! We made sure our gathering had very little pavilion activity, just start at 10am, hot dogs at 11, group pic and raffle at 4pm and close up at 5pm. Everything else was boxing and exchanging! I know I met everyone who came and exchanged with nearly everyone (forgot to stamp in a book or two as I greeted guests!). Plus, even with the 3 hours the Highlander and I personally had, we were able to score over 30 boxes in one shot!

We also had some great out of town guests, including the King and Queen of letterboxing, Wanda and Pete (total surprise!). Irene from Hikers and Hounds came up from Philly and drove in with Missmoon from NYC. Clan Jiggs came down from Ontario and Craftymouse and Dandelion came with MTNest Robin and Mtnman from Central NY.

Every group or family won something at the raffle, so that was a nice bonus. We had plenty of chili, coffee and chocolate (GOTTA have chocolate!) on hand, plus we had a nice dinner at the Country Club Kitchen (not EVEN as ritzy as it sounds!). The Highlander and I even went back Sunday and boxed with Jiggs until after 4pm.

Team Dakota, the resident carving wizards, made the stamp, which I REALLY need to post on my site...was an adorable little gang of shadow children marching with Box NY in the corner. And the boxes were just like the first Thanksgiving...a bounty to behold! The Elba Onions and Team Dakota really chipped in, as did quite a very out of town box donators.

All in all, a COLD day, but a GREAT day! Next year, we've all agreed on EARLIER in the fall (September, even August) and farther southeast, so that the Southern Tier and Buffalo folks can enjoy a shorter ride. Hope to see some of you there and REALLY hope to join som CNYers at THEIR next gathering...when's it gonna BE???

The (still washing ink from her fingers) Sprite & The (still smelling of grilled Sahlens) Highlander

50 people! That's HUGE!!! What a crowd. Sounds like a very successful gathering! The Jiggs were there! Wanda and Pete AND Hikers and Hounds! WOW! I wish I could have been there.

Sounds like you guys had a great time.

-Amanda from Seattle

50 people! That's HUGE!!! What a crowd. Sounds like a very successful gathering! The Jiggs were there! Wanda and Pete AND Hikers and Hounds! WOW! I wish I could have been there.

Well, in comparison to the MMM, it was barely a showing, but honestly, we were GLAD we didn't have that many folks. This was nice and intimate, even though we met tons of new people. We really had a great time!

The S & H

Save the date - more details come spring!

The official LBMA Spring Gather will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2005.

Place: Black Hill Regional Park, 20930 Lake Ridge Dr., Boyds (Germantown), MD
Time: 11 a.m. until ?

Camping is available nearby at Little Bennett Regional Park.
Furry friends on leashes are welcome!

The park, including lake, is 1,843 wooded acres. Little Seneca Lake is 505 acres, with 15.7 miles of shoreline, great for fishing. Rowboats, canoes and kayaks are available to rent. There is also a nice nature center.

There are over 3 miles of paved trails and 10 miles of unpaved trails, accessible to hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders. There are currently 19 listed letterboxes hidden in the park and many more within a short driving distance.

I have reserved a large pavilion with restrooms, playground, many tables and grills. Charcoal fires and hotdogs will be provided (or you may bring something to throw on a grill). Attendees are asked to bring a potluck dish to share. There is a volleyball court and horseshoe pit if letterboxing isn’t enough for you (BYO).

We are planning to keep this a casual meet and greet with intermittent letterboxing frenzy, but are open to suggestions. I will need a rough headcount, so please email me if you plan to attend or if I can answer any questions.

Hope to see many letterboxing friends: old and new, from near and far!!

Donna
Tempus Fugit
So many boxes, so little time!

March 12, 2005
Gresham, Oregon
Welcome new friends and old, welcome home friends from afar and play a game from our youth.

Do you have a clue?

See Maiden for more info!

I added this gathering to the event board. The guest list is getting longer and we certainly hope to see you there!

You certainly don't want to miss this event, old friends, new friends, the world's best pizza, and a mystery to solve (which includes 22 stamps). How could you say no to that. For all the details see the event calendar!

Maiden

Just so everyone realizes it, you can list events that have already happened on the AQ Event Planner. That way, those who attended the event can still "signup" to show they've attended, which adds to their E-count in their profile. (Eventually, I plan to make a page that shows each of the events a given person has attended, but it's not an especially high priority at the moment.)

So if you have events in the past to list, by all means, help yourself! =) The focus is definitely on upcoming events, but there are absolutely no restrictions if you want to list old events.

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

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So if you have events in the past to list, by all means, help yourself!

Does this mean just the host of these past events can post that event or can (just) a little ol' attendee post the event?

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Does this mean just the host of these past events can post that event or can (just) a little ol' attendee post the event?

Hmm.... I don't know. I'm kind of torn on the idea. On the one hand, I can't really see any harm in letting anyone include past events. It's not like I ever plan to track the number of "Events Planned" by various individuals nor would they accidentally let out "secret" details of the event that weren't supposed to be public--the event would already be over!

But I hesitate because I'm sure if people start adding all the events they've been to, someone, somewhere, is going to start complaining that it was their event and they should be the ones to add it. Boo hoo hooo.....

But then, I specifically made the person who entered the event the "contact"--which does NOT mean "organizer". I know some events are put on by groups of people and I didn't want to worry about who should get credit or not. Designate one person as the contact person and that's that. But for past events, a contact person is unimportant and not necessary.

So ultimately, I'm torn. *shrug* I don't see the harm in it, but I don't want to piss anyone off by allowing anyone to add past events either! I'll probably just pretend I didn't notice attendees listing past events, though, in case you want to add them. ;o)

For upcoming events, though, only the event organizers should be adding events. There could be a lot of reasons the organizers don't want an event listed on AQ ahead of time so I'll only pretend not to notice attendees adding past events.

-- Ryan

Ryan,

When people RSVP for an event, does the contact person receive notification of new RSVPs? Just curious...

TurtleMcQ

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When people RSVP for an event, does the contact person receive notification of new RSVPs?

At the moment, no, but it is a feature I'd been thinking about adding. I figured it was more important for the event organizer to know how many people would be attending rather than who would be attending and it seemed silly to send a notification every time someone new signed up. I figured it would probably be easier to check the event details page and see how many signups there were whever the organizer needed to check such information.

But I'm still open-minded about notifying the contact person of new signups if it's a popularly wanted feature. =)

-- Ryan

Is it possible to add a button giving you the option of being notified? Here on the West Coast, where the gatherings are 10 - 40 on average, I would like to be notified. But I can see where someone in CT would not want their mailbox flooded with 200 emails.

Maiden

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Is it possible to add a button giving you the option of being notified?

Yeah, that would be possible. =) In fact, I liked the idea so much, I just did it! For anyone that lists an event, you now have the option to be notified whenever someone signs up for it. By default, you won't get the notification. For those of you who have already listed events, you can change the setting by going to the "Edit Details" page of that event.

Events in the past will not send notifications regardless of your settings.

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

OK got a hotel room reserved! We will be there Friday morning and will return to Atlanta Sunday evening.

BoxDN can I bring Abby? (4.5lb teacup poodle)???

Well the mystery has been solved. We started out at my favorite pizza place where they had given us the entire banquet room. Cherokee and David from Beaverton were over achievers and beat me t here. (And I was early). I didn't know either one of them and couldn't figure out who these people were that were in OUR room. After the second time I peaked in Cherokee let me know it was him. We got set up quickly and the people started pouring in.

Cherokee, J Man, and David from Beaverton were quickly followed by the J Rock family, Camp Fire Lady, MiniLes, Bethany, Erfellie, Sandy, and Team RavyenHaus. Of course Tooth Fairy, Jay Jeopardy, and Tarnished Knight were with me, but Gramma Star and Touche Turtle were also in tow. Der Mad Stamper made it after the game was in full swing, but got caught up with no problem.

The rules were explained from atop a chair, and we were off. The air was alive with the whispered accusations, pencils scribbling on Clue sheets, and plenty of conversation about log books, stamps, and favorite hunts. The poor wait staff had a horrible time trying to deliver food, everyone was havingn to much fun to pay attention to their stomachs.

Just about an hour into the game Camp Fire Lady came to me, ready to make a final accusation. It just so happened she was right, Mrs. White did it in the Billiard Room with the Candle stick. She got to choose her prize, and we kept playing, wanting people to keep enjoying the fun.

It soon became obvious we were going to outlast our hour and a half slot they had reserved the room for us, so we packed everything up and moved down the street two blocks to Main Street Park. J Man was the next to solve the mystery followed by Cherokee. The J Rock family girls were the first two kids to solve it.

After all the prizes had been given out, all the stamps were put out and everyone was welcome to complete their set.

The stamping continued for about another hour before people started heading off in search of the numerous local boxes.

All in all a great time was had by all and it couldn't have happened without Scarab's kind loan of the stamp set and the individual carvers allowing us to use them.

Thank you all!

Maiden

For those of you thinking about coming to the Finger Lakes gathering in central NY on June 11th, please be warned that lodging in the Ithaca area is quickly becoming scarce due to Cornell's Reunion weekend.

If you don't already have reservations and can't find anything in Ithaca, you might try checking the Cortland area as well. Local state parks with camping include Taughannock Falls, Buttermilk Falls and Treman. I know at least one family has reserved a cabin on Cayuga Lake - vacation rentals may be a little easier to find because local schools will still be in session. There's a new Hilton Garden Inn under construction in downtown Ithaca that should be open next month, too. I don't know if they're taking reservations or not yet, though.

You can find all sorts of information about local lodging, camping, places to see and things to do here:

http://www.visitithaca.com/

http://www.cornell.edu/visiting/ithaca/visiting.cfm

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need more lodging info.

TurtleMcQ

There are about six of us getting together on Monday. I decided to post it as a 'mini meet' at the last minute.

The problem is, one person has already left, and I don't think she has access to a computer. So she doesn't know about the official posting.

I'd like for her to be able to claim it on her "E" count. Will she be able to do this after the fact?
Or will I have to ask Ryan again to make a little magic after he comes back. please
(and I'm sure he will have a pile of work when he does get back too)

S~N~K

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I'd like for her to be able to claim it on her "E" count. Will she be able to do this after the fact?

Yes, the events stay in the database. Ryan has made it so that past events can be entered so that people can build up their E counts. For example, we were able to count the Treasure Haunt and the first SE Gathering b/c Red put them. It didn't matter that the events were over, just that they were there to be countable.

Hope this helps,
Mark

Thanks Mark,

It really does.

Amyrica is coming to Disney this week. She invited me and two other letterboxing friends to lunch. I was joking with Letterbug that this is almost like a mini gathering.

Then Amy wrote to me that we were also meeting up with the Gilroys (Kilroy). I suddenly realized it really was a mini meet.

I posted it to make it official, but Amy had already left. And I feel that this is really her gathering since she made the original invitation.

Thanks again for the info...I feel better now that Amy can add it to her count

S~N~K

Make an event stamp!

Funhog...shhhhh....it's a suprise

The 50's Prime Time Mini Meet, seemed to be a success. There were ten of us there. Good food, good friends, cool stamps.

Funhog, I was up until 3 am a few days ago, carving my event stamp. I wanted to suprise everybody with it. It turned out Ok. I used the Prime Time Cafe logo. =0)
Possibly a new hitchhiker too, maybe

S~N~K

"Funhog, I was up until 3 am a few days ago, carving my event stamp."

Yay!!! ...and I bet they were all pleased to have it in their books. The first event I went to here in Oregon had all of nine folks in attendance: Ryan, Amanda, Der Mad Stamper, Paisley Orca, Maronie, Mark, Beth, LoneMassWolf (the visiting dignitary) and myself. Here's a great bit of gossip: this is where the Turtle and Nancy Drew first met!

Now we have dozens of folks at our gatherings. You're off to a good start. I think ten is definitely critical mass. Congratulations! Funhog

Laaadieeees annnddd Gen..tle...men!

I am Phineas Boch, Ringmaster of Boch's Circus, the most amazing, impressive, traveling collection of skilled, physical entertainment, magic, side show, and exotic animals to be found hidden in the forests and parks around our country.

Bringing art, outdoor entertainment, and puzzles, to one region after another, our circus menagerie is especially good for those with a dearth of local boxum adventures or with a gather on the horizon.

I have assembled from around the region and around the world the most impressive, talented, and may I say astounding collection of acts to be enjoyed by an appreciative audience. You will see amazing animals, impossible jugglers, shocking sideshows... ["Yeah, and bombastic ringmasters!" "Shhh. Quiet back there."] ... as I was saying you will be astounded by our nascent troupe of a dozen or more performers.

Even now I am receiving boxes from around the country to hide in the Maryland countryside. We may even have party crashers come on their own to show their talent (hint, hint). (I happen to know of one tiny teddy bear who has decided to run off and join the circus in the Animal Crackers sideshow.)

Come one, come all to our first stop in beautiful, bountiful, boxious, Boyd's, Maryland at the Mid-Atlantic Spring Gather hosted by the inimitable Tempus Fugit on May 14th only a few short weeks away.

I remain truly and sincerely, your humble entertainer,
Phineas Boch
RIngmaster of Boch's Circus

(Gather information is posted in the events on AtlasQuest.com and Letterboxing.info .)

For all of those signed up for the Plant-A-Box Gathering in Greenville SC on May 21st, please check out the event page for some additional info.

See you there,

BBB