Spring Mill State Park
Butternut Shelter
May 18, 2024 ~ 10a until 2p
Join us for the 22nd Indiana Spring Picnic! A great excuse to socialize... see old friends, meet new ones, eat yummy food, play games, cache and/or hike/bike the area.
Schedule:
10:00 am - Registration & ice breaker
11:30 pm - Lunch
12:00 pm (ish) - Game prizes awarded, group photo after folks are done eating (roughly 12:30pm)
*Note: We have the shelter reserved for the whole day and you are more than welcome to hang out. But if you choose to stay at the shelter, we ask that you leave the area clean so we do not incur any surprise clean-up fees.
Pitch-In Lunch:
Plates, plastic ware and napkins will be provided. If you would like to join in, please bring your own entree and drinks, plus a dish to share. If your last name begins with A-M, we ask that you bring a side dish. If your last name begins with N-Z, a dessert is preferred -- this should keep the mix pretty even. The shelter has electricity and we will provide a couple of power strips, so crock pots should not be a problem.
NOTE: If you bring an item that needs to be cut up, please do this ahead of time. If your dish requires a serving utensil, please provide your own... we have thrown away TONS of food over the past years because people have no way to serve themselves.
Participation in the pitch-in is absolutely NOT mandatory; but if you choose not to bring a dish, please let others who did bring something line up first. Then after everyone has passed through once, it's a free-for-all!
We will also provide small trash bags and ask that you CITO out your own trash. This event generates quite a lot of garbage, and this minor request helps us enormously. And I hate to have to spell this out, but it happens every year... Do not bag your trash,then leave it at the shelter -- this defeats the purpose of our request.
There should be plenty of picnic table seating, but if you prefer to bring your own chair to enjoy lawn seating, please feel free.
Activities:
Closest to the Pin will go on from 10am until Noon. Prize awarded after lunch.
A get-to-know-your-neighbor Meet & Greet game will be available. Once your sheet is filled, turn it in for an opportunity to win a prize (awarded after lunch).
There is a playground not far from the shelter. Please keep an eye on your little ones in this area.
We will have a 50/50 raffle available for $1 per ticket -- the winner gets 50% of the total pot, with the other 50% going to recoup costs incurred by the hosts.
RAFFLES ARE BACK!! After a long hiatus, we have a few items to raffle off this year. Tickets will be $1 each or 6 for $5.
**If you would like to donate items for raffles or door prizes. All donations are GREATLY appreciated.**
Notes:
There is an admission fee to enter this park.
The shelter is ADA accessible according to the IDNR.
There are modern facilities near the shelter (restrooms are also ADA compliant).
We gladly welcome pets at our event. However we ask that pets are kept on a leash at all times (6' max, per new IDNR rules), and please clean up after your furry friend as needed.
This event is rain, snow, or shine. Only hazardous weather will keep us from hosting, in which case we will give as much notification as possible. Please note that this shelter is fully shaded... if it is a chilly day, be sure to bring your jacket!
Camping:
Camp sites are available through the IDNR Reservation website (the event hosts are camping at site 138). A campground map will be uploaded to this page shortly, showing existing reservations. We will update as necessary -- if you would like your site on the map, please post your reserved site number here or on the Facebook event page.
Other Weekend Events:
Friday evening campfire event hosted by The Antisocial_Cachers. 2024 Spring Picnic Friday night Meet and greet
Sunday morning farewell breakfast event by FievelGoes. Spring Picnic Sunday Breakfast
If anyone is interested in hosting an event in the area on the weekend of the Spring Picnic weekend, please let us know. Anyone can host, we just like to keep track of events so there is no overlap/conflict.
The Indiana Spring Picnic also has a page on Facebook. Search for 'Indiana Geocaching Spring Picnic' and please *like* us. Our Spring Picnic events are also posted within this group.