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Post by SSO JOAT on Apr 27, 2013 10:27:39 GMT -9
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Post by ladybugkids on Apr 27, 2013 10:39:34 GMT -9
I just had a bunch of Event notices hit my inbox, so the events are live!
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Post by SSO JOAT on Apr 28, 2013 8:27:44 GMT -9
I've sent the flash mob adoption to Firefly and the Homer campout and CITO adoptions to NeverSummer. If any of those are not correct, just cancel and provide me with the correct recipient.
GCAK owns the Girdwood listing and I have the other 3 under my account. NS, do you want to take the Hidden Lake camp social event also, or just leave it under my account? Doesn't matter to me either way. If you have some particular stuff you want to put into that listing, either let me know what to add or let me know that you want to adopt the listing.
I'm submitting an article to the GCAK newsletter to further publicize the event amongst our ranks. It was announced at our last EduVent and will be announced again at our next one on May 16. If anyone has eyes on local event calendars, please post something there. It has already been posted on these forums for the last few weeks.
We will need trash bags and I'd recommend hitting up DOT for those. I know our Anchorage end will take care of Girdwood per their usual sourcing, but we need to have enough to cover the other 3 CITO sites. I didn't get positive response from KNWR or Soldotna parks on assisting with that stuff, so I'll try hitting up the Soldotna DOT office when I get back there (May 8).
Next item on the list came from our last BoD meeting; we need to try and leverage some media attention on this series of events. I'll ping my contact at the Redoubt Reporter as he gave us some great coverage at last summer's picnic. If I don't get a bite there, I'll move on to the Peninsula Clarion. You guys should try to get the local Homer paper to cover the CITO event down that way. I know there are some at GCAK who will cringe, but I'm thinking of dropping a press release to the big 3 TV news stations in Anchorage. It's been awhile since we've had GCAK in front of the camera. I'm game to give it a go, but I want to see some "Will Attend" logs before going that route to be sure we'll have more than 5 or 6 people, especially at Hidden Lake.
Finally, I'll get our event support request sent off to the Event Committee. I believe that we only need a couple bling items for each CITO site to give away as "door prizes". I already have a roll of tickets that we can use for the drawings. If anyone can score some additional door prize materials from local businesses and such, that would be great. I still think we should run with the compounding door prize ticket approach. Those who are traveling with the road show will get 1 ticket per CITO attended and it will stay in the bucket through the whole trip. Thus, someone starting in Homer and going all the way to Girdwood will have 4 tickets in the drawing bucket at the last site and thus have a higher chance of winning.
Anything else that anyone can think of that we need to get lined up on this event series? Did everyone put in requests for good weather? Hopefully the snow will be gone at Hidden Lake. I stopped by last week while traveling through the area and there was still about 6-inches of snow everywhere. The upper campground was still closed off, but the lakeside and lower campgrounds were open, they just had a lot of snow on the ground.
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Post by TheFirefly on Apr 28, 2013 8:42:17 GMT -9
Flash mob has been adopted!
I'll check with the Homer COC about using extra trash bags from next weekend's town clean up event. And I'll get a blurb put in the chamber newsletter.
NeverSummer - do you have an in with the Homer News or Tribune? I'm not sure the best way to get coverage there.
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Post by NeverSummer on Apr 30, 2013 21:47:48 GMT -9
I can try to reach out to the papers somehow. Not really sure, other than to perhaps put a note in the weekly calendars that might draw some attention. I'm really hoping that we get some people coming from outside of Homer (and outside of the 3-4 cachers in this thread...) to attend.
This should be a really fun time, and I'm looking forward to it. I just hope that I still have the time off as requested...!
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Post by SSO JOAT on Apr 30, 2013 22:14:48 GMT -9
I've already submitted a press release to the Peninsula Clarion. My contact at the Redoubt Reporter who covered our picnic last summer is no longer with that paper, so I'll be sending a generic press release to their news editor instead. I'll also be sending a press release to the key Anchorage based media, though I don't expect much from that end.
If neither of you have an insider with the Homer newsies, I can just send a generic press release to them, unless you want to handle it yourself.
In addition to this, I'll be pinging a number of local cachers via direct email. Many of them go off the caching radar over the winter and they are infrequent about checking for new caches online. Once informed directly of a new event, they are more likely to check it out and attend if they are available.
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Post by ladybugkids on May 1, 2013 5:54:58 GMT -9
In addition to this, I'll be pinging a number of local cachers via direct email. This is a good idea because I've learned most cachers don't have events set up on instant notifications (if they use instant notifications at all) and they don't know how to find events through any one of several means on the geocaching.com website.
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Post by TheFirefly on May 1, 2013 13:11:31 GMT -9
I don't really have an in with either paper, so a generic press release may be the way to go. I know a couple people at the Homer News, but not the ones that have any pull on anything. Scott - if you'd send me a copy of the release you're sending to the other locales, I can send it on to the Homer papers. (That way it will come from someone "local", which I do know has some pull here.) I missed the deadline for getting a blurb in the Chamber newsletter. My bad - I have had my dates in April all messed up. BUT, in good news, we can have the extra trash bags from the town cleanup this weekend. (And if they run out of those, they'll provide us with others.) So, we're good for trash bags in Homer. I'll start officially spreading the word through various other online channels after this weekend. I've mentioned it here and there, but have not shared details. (There are SO many cleanup and volunteer work days this weekend that I think I'll get more notice after those are done.)
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 1, 2013 19:24:36 GMT -9
Soldotna P&R Mgr emailed me this evening that they have trash bags for us at Soldotna Creek Park and they will have someone come by at 4pm to pick up all the trash we collect at that site.
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Post by fuzzybelly on May 2, 2013 8:10:25 GMT -9
I've already got a full box of bags from DOT in anchorage, and I'll be grabbing the vests, flags, and signs from them sometime next week for the girdwood area CITO.
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 2, 2013 18:18:03 GMT -9
I will hit Soldotna DOT next week and get some bags for the Hidden Lake Campground. From Hidden Lake, we'll load all our trash into a geo-rig or two and drop it at the Cooper Landing transfer site as we pass through.
It sounds like we are bagged up for the entire series. Now we'll just need some good weather for the next 2 weeks to push back the snow!!! (It's been snowing for the last 3 days in Valdez!)
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Post by fuzzybelly on May 3, 2013 6:45:35 GMT -9
Now we'll just need some good weather for the next 2 weeks to push back the snow!!! (It's been snowing for the last 3 days in Valdez!) we've got a LIKE button, but where's the DON"T LIKE button.
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 3, 2013 7:27:55 GMT -9
I "don't like" this weather!!! It snowed another 6 inches of heavy, wet, nasty slush last night. What a mess.
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Post by akgh519 on May 3, 2013 21:20:30 GMT -9
Tired of it to myself...guess it is another weekend of evil urban hides
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Post by ladybugkids on May 3, 2013 21:26:38 GMT -9
Just need to change the theme...the Nordic skiing continues to be most excellent in the Chugach front range. The dogs and I spent a couple of hours up there making new tracks this afternoon building an appetite for the evening's event.
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 3, 2013 23:27:06 GMT -9
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Post by ladybugkids on May 4, 2013 6:14:41 GMT -9
Nice press release, Scott!
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 4, 2013 6:22:11 GMT -9
Thanks for the GCAK Letterhead. I made a few tweaks to the design to simplify it a little bit. But I'll use that template to generate a PR for the Kenai Picnic and I'm generating a letter of solicitation that will couple with the IRS form and the certificate of non-profit standing from the State. We'll make that packet available for people to use at other events to try and generate donations from various businesses.
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Post by akgh519 on May 5, 2013 7:20:51 GMT -9
Thanks Scott
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Post by NorthWes on May 6, 2013 10:01:10 GMT -9
Here is the formal press release for anyone to use in trying to get publicity for these events. Excellent! The press release caps all the planning and event building that's been done - good work. I'm planning to be on-site for May 19th, probably a bit after the startup. If we do this again next year I may get my leave request entered in time to do the whole 7-event series, because this sounds like a real blast!
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Post by TheFirefly on May 6, 2013 13:27:37 GMT -9
Awesome! Thanks, Scott!
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Post by NeverSummer on May 13, 2013 10:22:19 GMT -9
I'm now out of my Shorebird Festival cave, and have shifted gears to the HOBO CITO events! I haven't heard back from businesses about possible other door prizes yet, but I plan on kicking some things in myself.
Be ready to come down for the opportunity to be drawn for a some fun stuff!
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 13, 2013 19:31:23 GMT -9
I have the door prize kits from GCAK for all 4 sites. Got my camping gear ready to go and looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is calling for rain on Friday, snow on Saturday (yes, snow), and clearing on Sunday. So, be ready for any kind of weather! And let's hope the weather dude is wrong, as usual.
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Post by TheFirefly on May 13, 2013 19:35:23 GMT -9
Hhmm....the weather forecast I just looked at called for rain Thursday, snow Friday (badday), and clearing Sat & Sun. I like mine better! (poke)
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 14, 2013 17:13:56 GMT -9
Picked up 65 trash bags from the City of Soldotna and another 40 trash bags from DOT. Should be more than enough! Also stopped and talked to our folks at KNWR. The campground host (site #12) has just moved in and one of the rangers was heading up to talk to them this afternoon. They are going to ensure we have 5 spaces reserved (we can double tent each site as needed). These will be adjacent to the campground host site, which is the published coordinates for the camp social event. The west end of Skilak Loop road (Sterling end) is impassable right now due to a break-up mud pit near Bottenintnin Lake. The east end is soft and rough, as it always is during break up, but passable by highway vehicles. There is a middle school group of kids that is conducting a trash pickup through this area on Thursday through Saturday. So they don't expect that there will be much trash in the campground. Due to that, we have a request from KNWR for some other maintenance work that they would normally have ranger staff take care of, but they are too short handed to take care of it right now. That is cleaning out all of the fire rings throughout the campground. All ash and debris from last year needs to be shoveled out to leave clean rings with just mineral soil on the bottom. This needs to be scooped into trash bags and set aside for the Ranger to pick up and bring back to Soldotna. Ash cannot be dumped at the Cooper Landing transfer site. Since it sounds like trash will be slim pickings, I volunteered us for this task. So, everyone should toss a couple shovels (preferably box shovels for scooping, rather than spades) into their vehicles when packing for this site. We can pick up any trash as we go through the campground loops, but our primary task will be the fire ring cleanup. I'll push an announcement out via the event listing to bring everyone up to speed.
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Post by akgh519 on May 15, 2013 20:15:02 GMT -9
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Post by TheFirefly on May 15, 2013 21:07:38 GMT -9
And this from KNWR:
Latest road report for Skilak Lake Road: the West entrance remains difficult with no improvement to that area past Bottenintnin Lake. The first 1.5 miles of road from the East entrance (just after Jim's Landing) are also muddy with deep ruts and a partially exposed culvert. Travel from the east is best in the morning when the road is cold, and 4-wheel drive is recommended.
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Post by SSO JOAT on May 16, 2013 5:55:16 GMT -9
It's always a little snotty at the east end during breakup, but it's the west end that gets shut down every spring. The current spat of rain won't help the road, but most of the snow has melted off, so the addition of snowmelt has pretty much ceased. It doesn't take long for the east end of the road to improve.
On a brighter note, the call for 1-3 inches of snow for the western pen is solidly on Friday and they've now changed Saturday to sun with some clouds. So our two days of cleanup is looking brighter, though we may still have to deal with up a dusting of wet snow in Homer on Friday night.
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Post by akgh519 on May 16, 2013 11:10:04 GMT -9
It is going to be fun! I hope to be there for the Saturday night camping, bonfire and stargazing!!!
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Post by akgh519 on May 16, 2013 16:30:26 GMT -9
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