MiGO's 20th Anniversary Picnic
Where It All Began
4/27/2002 Photo collage courtesy of trippy1976, MiGO member #2
 |
Were you here 20 years ago? If you were, please tell us so in your Will Attend.
The following is a slightly edited account of the event that where MiGO was officially launched. It was posted on the original MiGO website. We hope you find it interesting. This event was repeated 10 years later at this very site (GC3C92A). It was not nearly as nice a day. We have rented the enclosed shelter to avoid weather problems, so it will surely be a much nicer day for the 20th.
It all started with a thread on the geocaching.com discussion forums. Rusty thought a Michigan geocaching event would be a good idea and created an event cache to be held at the Lansing mall on April 27, 2002 @ 10:30am
The response to the event was much greater than expected and it was decided to move the event to Grand Woods Park and its pavilion played host to somewhere between fifteen and twenty geocachers.
Rusty hosted the event and had supplied coffee and some goodies to snack on. The day started out with people filtering in, introducing one another. Finally - faces for all those names we see so often in log books! Everyone donned their name tags (provided by Scook) and after a while Rusty presented us all with the challenge for the day.
He had come early and marked a known spot in the park. On this spot, he placed his GPS and allowed it to average the coordinates for twenty minutes. When it was done averaging, he marked down the coordinates and now he presented them to us. The challenge was to see if our GPSes would be consistent in finding the point Rusty had 'marked'. So... off we went, coordinates and GPSrs in hand, to find the spot. Each person had a small flag with their name written on it which they placed in the ground at the point they thought the secret coordinates were.
It was interesting to see the spread. Generally, everyone was relatively consistent and we were sure that someone had hit the mark pretty dead on. After a while, Rusty revealed to us how he determined his secret spot and where it was. He was able to identify a known point by running a string between a water fountain and a the corner post of a horseshoe pit. A string with a bolt hung in the middle of the string, marking the exact spot he has let his GPS average that morning.
The results of this experiment are difficult to quantify. The majority of participate were grouped together within 6-8 feet. However... Rusty's point was approximately 35 feet west of the primary grouping. Upon re-averaging the point, Rusty determined that his GPS was now giving a different reading at that point and the actual coordinates seemed to be near the grouping, with TTracker being the person 'closest to the pin'. The moral of the story as the group saw it seemed to be that our GPS units were all relatively consistent. We gained a new level of confidence in the consistency of our prized caching devices. Amused with the exercise and now armed with the knowledge that we should search 35 feet to the west for any of Rusty's caches ;) we declared TTracker the winner and retired to the pavilion for the telling of war stories and more coffee and goodies.
Once back to the shelter, a Rubbermaid container was set out on a picnic table and before we knew it - a new cache had been created. It was decided that we would place this cache in the park and convert the event cache into a real cache to preserve it in posterity. Many attendees disappeared and shortly returned announcing the successful placement of Michigan's newest (at the time) cache.
Some folks stayed and grilled up some food and eventually everyone had said their good byes, cleaned up, and set off for home. Many of us were quickly re-united as we took the opportunity to do some caches in the Lansing area. The event was a smashing success. We'd like to thank all who attended, Rusty for the motivation and the goodies, all the folks that left prizes for the new cache, and all Michigan cachers who helped promote the event. If you were unable to get to this one, there will be several more chances throughout the summer to attend a gathering.
Here We Are Again!
We are going back to Grand Woods Park to celebrate MiGO's 20th Birthday. Come join us for a day of caching in the Lansing area, socializing in the park, a picnic lunch and some other fun.
What's Happening?
| Geocaching: |
Capital Area Geocaching (CAGE) members are assisting with plenty of new hides in the Lansing area. Look forward for a full day of caching, socializing and fun. |
|
A "Closest to the Pin" contest will be held to commemorate the same activity at the innaugural event.
|
|
|
A Potluck Picnic Lunch: MiGO will supply a main course, plastic ware, napkins and paper plates.
Attendees please bring a dish to share according to the table at right. Please bring your own refreshments (No Alcohol).
A-J sides and salads i.e: potato salad, baked beans, pasta salads, cole slaw, etc.
K-T Desserts, i.e: cake, cupcakes, pie, cookies, muffins, etc.
U-Z Snacks, i.e: nuts, chips, pretzels, crackers, etc.
|
The pavillion has power. If you you need to keep a dish hot, please bring your own extension cord and power strip..
The picnic lunch is planned for 1:00 PM. Watch for announcements.
|
|
Hiding something new: A new cache will be hidden in the park during the event. Everyone who is in attendence at the time will get to claim a first to find.
|
|
| MiGO Store: |
A subset of the MiGO Store will be available at the event. Anything you pre-order up to a week before the event should be available for pickup at the event.
Place your pre-orders at The MiGO Store today. |
Background
The background image for this cache page tells a story of the very beginning of MiGO. It is the list of "will attends" for the event where MiGO became an organization. If you are curious, you can scroll through the list here.
Will Attends from twenty years ago
 |