Mn8X came up with the idea of having a National Day Of Letterbox Planting and Ryan challenged us to try and crash the server by adding too many boxes to AQ in one day. Several people came up with a date to do the challenge: 5/24 (which is National Scavenger Hunt Day). The Wolf Family then decided to make it into a contest to get more boxes in their home state of North Carolina. I am now shamelessly jumping on this bandwagon to promote Santa Clara County (SCC) boxes. (SF and Oakland each have 89 boxes listed within 25 miles. San Jose has less than 30!) The record number of added traditional boxes on a single day is 142 (wouldn't it be cool to beat this). The record number of allegedly planted boxes on a given day is 95.

Thanks to all who contributed ideas to get this started (see the Atlas Quest board starting with the "Do you plant boxes" thread).

THERE WILL BE A PRIZE FOR THE MOST SCC BOXES ADDED TO AQ ON 5/24, A PRIZE FOR THE MOST SCC BOXES ACTUALLY PLANTED ON 5/24, AND AN EVENT STAMP (VIA MAIL) FOR ALL WHO PARTICIPATE.

Here is how it works:

1. Plant a traditional box in Santa Clara County (SCC) between now and 5/24 but don't post the clues until 5/24 on Atlas Quest.

2. Sign up for this event.

It's fun to see who you are competing against and I'll also need a way to keep track of the contestants to see who the winner is and who I need to send the event stamp to.

3. What are you waiting for? There isn't much time! Get carving and planting!

RULES:
1. Clues must be posted on 5/24/06.
On 5/25 I will look at the logbooks of all who are signed up for the event and determine the winner that way.

2. Plants must be in Santa Clara County.
You do not need to be from SCC-- just come here and plant a box.

What if you can't get here in time?
Well, if you can find someone to plant for you in time and load it to AQ on the 5/24 deadline you will at least get carving credit and I'll send you the event stamp for participating. The planter will get planting credit which qualifies you for the event stamp as well as a point toward winning the contest (I'll only be counting plant numbers in logs).

3. The boxes must not have been found yet (so if you have a bunch that are just on LbNA and are thinking of adding them to AQ on that day-- that's a great thing to do-- and I would encourage it for purposes of seeing if AQ will crash, but I won't count them as part of the contest results. They may count toward beating that 142 number, though!).

4. The plants must be traditional boxes.

PRIZE FOR MOST SCC BOXES ADDED TO AQ ON 5/24:
*** If you want to make a donation send me an e-mail-- any donations would be greatly appreciated.***

The prizes may consist of
carving materials, logbooks, lock-n-lock box, markers, and anything else I can think up or anyone donates.

NOW GET OUT THERE AND PLANT! :)

PS- I'm REALLY new to carving, so if one of our more experienced artists would like to volunteer to design and carve the event stamp, that would be MUCH appreciated!

-Aahz

<div style="width:200px"><img src="http://www.atlasquest.com/images/eventsignup.gif" width="91" height="52" border="0" title="Signup for Santa Clara County Day of Letterbox Planting Contest" alt="" /><br />Click here to signup for<br />Santa Clara County Day of Letterbox Planting Contest</div>

Ack! Guess these boards aren't HTML friendly.

Sign up for the event at http://www.atlasquest.com/events/event.html?gEventId=161

I thought it a great idea too-I saw your apology and recognized your frustration of so few San Jose boxes. I have introduced mySan Jose sister to letterboxing and she even carved a stamp. But then when she went to find any they were all missing or really inconvenient to bring her children too. I told her I would see what I could do about it (not much living in GA). But I have been sending her info about all the new San Jose boxes I have seen posted.

Thanks so much for encouraging the idea, despite any naysayers,
spring and snake

I was so dismayed when Aahz came under attack for his attemps at increasing the number of letterboxes in his region. I had a letterbox planned for San Jose anyway, and made certain that I got it in place in time for our Big Day of Letterboxing.

And do you know what? This has been my single most visited letterbox, ever. It has been in place for less than two weeks, and has seen more traffic than I ever would have imagined.

I'm pleased that Aahz encouraged us to add letterboxes to his area. And doubly pleased that the local letterboxes came out to find the newer boxes.

In Alameda County, we've got so many wonderful letterboxes that it is hard to find time to scoop them all up, so as a result my boxes don't see anything like the traffic that this one San Jose letterbox does.

Hurray (or is that "huzzah?") for Santa Clara County letterboxers!

Lisascenic