Come one and come all to the
2011 GONIL Picnic at the Davis
Creek Campground in beautiful Kankakee, IL. Bring your appetite for
the picnic food of summer: hamburgers and hot dogs. And don't
worry, if you want to bring your own food for grilling, grills will
be available.
When: Saturday, August 27, 2011, 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Where: Kankakee State Park, Davis Creek Campground Coords: N
41° 09.611 W 087° 55.418
Come for the food, stay for the prizes, catch up with old
friends and meet some new ones. As always, all GONIL events are
open to members and non-members alike!
Now for some details
Geocachers everywhere are invited to the annual picnic in the
land of NIL. Plan to come early and stay late, bring food and your
favorite geocaching stories to share. Feel free to plan on coming
early (11am) and staying late (3pm). Don't forget to check out the
links below for the other events that will be taking place the same
day. Won't you please bring some food to share and certainly don't
forget your favorite geocaching stories for other cachers to hear.
Bring your fishing pole - The Kankakee is a clean river, great for
landing smallmouth bass, channel catfish, walleye and northern
pike. Rock Creek is also a good spot. Bring a canoe - The river's
shallow water and rocks are no problem for canoeists. And of course
don't forget your GPSr, there will be many more caches popping up
in the area the day of the picnic.
As in the past, we will be featuring many activities for young and
old alike. There is plenty of room for those who wish to bring your
own games as well. Of course we will be having our usual door prize
raffles (we are currently welcoming donations). Also, we'll be
having a silent auction for more valuable or unusual items.
One thing to remember, the picnic is in a campground and seating
will be limited, so bring your own chairs if you want to be
guaranteed a seat.
Travel Bug race
It certainly wouldn't be our annual picnic without the announcement
of last year's Travel Bug Race winner as well as the kick-off of
the 2011 Travel bug race which wascozookeeper has so graciously
agreeded to carry out once again this year (be sure to check out
the 2010 Travel Bug Race -- up-to-the-minute standings - HERE). We
will be making available custom GONIL Travel Tags for sale so feel
free to pick some up at the picnic or if you need some before then,
they can be ordered online. Check out the rules of this year's race
HERE.
Event Activities
There will be new caches in the area placed for the event but we
have lots of activities throughout the day and this is your big
opportunity to socialize with other geocachers from the Land of NIL
(and possible other lands), so plan to hang out and meet old
friends and make some new ones. Then head out to stretch your legs
and find a cache.
Kids' cache - filled with kid-friendly items and hidden
nearby. Parents should supervise their children during this
hunt.
Kids' crafts and games - We will have coloring activities,
and other crafts and games available. Parents should supervise
their children.
Prize table - We will have a table with some door prize
drawings. We invite everyone to contribute to the prize table.
Please contact DinaWorks
or go to this forum topic
if you have a contribution. Last minute contributions are also
welcome.
Q&A - Meet the board members of GONIL and we'll answer
any questions you have regarding the organization. We'll also have
an open Q&A session regarding any geocaching topics.
Memorial cache - As usual, a cache will be hidden in the
area after the event to commemorate the picnic. Please bring a
trading item or your signature item to contribute to the
cache.
2011/2012 Travel Bug Race - WascoZooKeeper will be
coordinating the 2011/2012 Travel Bug Race. We will have some
unregistered travel bug tags available if wish to enter the race
the day of the event. Rules and details can be found HERE.
I want to help out, what can I
do? SEE THIS
TOPIC.
There are many opportunities to help make this Event a huge
success, they would include but are not limited to:
Bring a portable table and/or a pop up canopy. A canopy will help
keep you and your friends cool (in the shade from the sun) or dry
(in case it rains) If you can bring a table or canopy, let us know
here.
Help in seeking Door Prize Donations
Hide a cache (or more) to be published for the picnic
Show up early the day of the picnic to help set up
Volunteer to run/assist with one of the activities
Stick around after 3:00 to help clean up
Any and all help is welcome, feel free to read more about what you
can do to help make your event more successful HERE!
Food - What to bring and what to
expect
This year, GONIL will be cooking up hot dogs and hamburgers. We
will have grill space available, so if you wish to bring your own
personal preference feel free to do so and you may even find
someone willing to do the cooking for you.
**** Note: Please be sure to mark in your "Will Attend" log how
many people you are bringing so we can have an adequate amount of
food for everyone.
Potluck:
Please bring a dish/beverage to share according to the first letter
of your real last name using the following list:
A-I Bring a desert.
J-Q Bring a side (salad, chips, fruit, etc.)
R-Z Beverages (water, juice boxes, etc.)
Use this as a guideline. If you make something exceptionally well
bring that. Feel free to post a note as to what you are bringing.
If it's something special we may ask you to share the recipe in the
GONIL
Cookbook
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE:
10:00am - Picnic Site Setup - Please arrive early if you'd like to
help! Let us know if you can help setup here.
11:00am - Picnic officially starts! Sign the log book, download
waypoints (bring your own cord), trade travel bugs etc. Start
bidding on silent auction items.
12:00pm Group Picture followed by---Eating! GONIL is providing Hot
Dogs and Hamburgers and fixins, please bring a dish to share based
on the potluck list above.
1:00pm - TRAVEL BUG RACE! - 2010 winner announced and kick off the
2011 race (travel bug tags will be for sale prior to kick off if
you need one) See rules of the race HERE.
1:30pm - GONIL Q&A / General Geocaching Q&A
2:00pm - Raffle Door Prize drawing & silent auction winners
announced.
3:00pm - Official End of Picnic
3:30pm - Site clean up - Volunteers needed. Let us know if you can
help cleanup here.
Park Restrictions
- Alcoholic beverages are prohibited in the park at all
times.
- Because the Kankakee River is unpredictable with its fast
current, drop offs and rocky bottom, no swimming is allowed in the
park in any area, including Rock Creek.
- All motorized vehicles are prohibited on all of the Kankakee
River State Park Trails. Motorized vehicles are not allowed on the
bicycle trail.
- Quiet Hours are 10pm - 7am. No vehicle traffic is
allowed.
Other GONIL Sponsored Events in the Area
Cache-apolooza Camping Weekend
and Caching
Keeping It Klean in Kankakee -
Kachers Kleaning Up (CITO)
By The Light of Slivery Phoon -
FlashMob