Deltona, new, meet-n-greet and Event idea

[Hebrew Hammer]

Greetings,

I want to introduce myself as being new (sort-of) to the area (grew up in Florida and have been away for the military for the past two-decades) and am now settled in Deltona. I would like to schedule a meet and greet event cache similar to the ones they have in Germany (Everyone meets at a local festhall, has dinner, drinks some beer, and swaps/discovers coins) as a way to get to know all of the local West Volusia geocachers.

I also want to discuss the possibility of scheduling/coordinating a large almost mega event for the city of Deltona for the Labor Day time frame. I envision an event that places 50 caches in the three sister-lakes area of Deltona within the confines of Howland Blvd, Newmark, Fort Smith Blvd, and Courtland. I envision the event segmented into five sections with 5 individuals placing 10 clever caches within their area of responsibility. Obviously this is more than I can handle by myself but am willing to take the lead if there is sufficient interest and at least four other West Volusia cachers willing to help coordinate, plan, and bring this to fruition.

I look forward to meeting all of you and some serious discussion on stimulating the Deltona area geocaches.

At your service,

JASON C. RUSSO
Hebrew Hammer

[Clan Riffster]

Kewl! Events are my favorite aspect of this game, as I love lots of schmoozing. Adding food and beer, (presuming it's quality beer), simply adds to the pleasure. I don't know of any restaurants in Deltona that could support a large gathering, so you might have to expand a bit to Orange City, Deland, Sanford or Debary. Either way, if you post it, they will come. Will you be coming to Dave's geocoin event tomorrow? If so, look for the ole fat crippled guy with the smelly hat.

insert personal bias ~~~> I'm not a fan of "More is better". A fairly recent phenomenon, (last few years), is to saturate an area with caches prior to an event. It seems to me that quality suffers as a result of this. Due to financial constraints, folks who want to plunk down a couple hundred caches often compromise in their container selection, choosing quantity over quality. I would much rather see 20 quality hides in an area of a few thousand acres, than see a hundred mediocre quality containers occupying the same area.

For me, this is a game that is all about location. If a location is worthy of a cache, that is awesome, and I look forward to the placement.

However, I can't think of many spots in your proposed zone that are unique enough to warrant anything other than another mindless P&G.

[Thelanes]

A meet and greet is always fun. You really don't need to try to do anything outlandish, just have a location with some shade. The cachers will do the rest. As far as hidding a bunch of caches for an event; I don't think that is necessary. There ae a lot of caches in the Deltona/Sanford/Deland area that us cachers will search for before attending the event.
If you are going to hide caches, make sure they are well thought out and not just a bunch of caches placed because you can. A few great hides are better than a bucnch of the same types (palmeto bushes). Possibly make a poker run out of it. That way, it won't be just finding a cache, it will include the anticipation of getting cards for a game.
I live in the Orlando area near UCF so getting to Deltona is no problem for me. Hope to see an event there sometime.