Our St. Louis Area Geocachers Association (SLAGA) is a fun and active organization, whose mission is to "improve the family-oriented activity of geocaching while encouraging responsible stewardship of public lands in cooperation with land managers." SLAGA accomplishes its mission by holding a variety of events from social picnics and gatherings, to community land clean up projects, to educational classes and workshops for both members and those just learning about geocaching. The past few weeks have seen SLAGA proudly exercise its mission with two CITO (Cache In Trash Out) events, a Food Truck social, the annual Spring Picnic, and two geocaching classes.
On the cold and windy morning of Saturday April 22, 2023, more than 45 geocachers participated at two clean up events. The CITO at Bellefontaine Cemetery (GCA458T), hosted by LFrank and Denmother (John and Laurie El Frank), involved trash pick up around the perimeter of the cemetery. But LFrank commented that, "the wind was blowing the trash in as fast as we were picking it up," so the 35 attendees literally had their hands full accomplishing their task. Some new geocachers and geocachers from California and Massachusetts were there to help as well. Light refreshments were provided and the attendees received a special gift from the cemetery staff.
While trash bags were being filled at Bellefontaine, about 13 miles away a different kind of clean up was underway. The 2023 CITO - Imperial Crown Pet Cemetery (GCA45WD), an annual spring event, was hosted by Hobbit Taz and CribbageWitch (Mark and Shirley Derr). Due to overlapping times with the other CITO, this clean up started with about 10 active SLAGA members working to raise and level headstones, mulch garden areas, cut and remove hanging and dead branches from trees, and pick up debris, downed limbs and previous cut tree pieces throughout the cemetery. A nice refreshement spread was provided in the warm cemetery office where workers could take a break from the cold and wind. Later in the morning about 5-6 additional members, who'd already cleaned up at Bellefontaine, came to lend a helping hand. Both CITOs were a success and everyone had a good time while providing clean up service.
One of SLAGA's Vice Presidents, Geokid12 (Robert Klemme), is known for hosting nearly monthly 'yummy' events. For his 9 Mile Garden events held from April to October in Affton, he's coined the event title FTF for FOOD TRUCK FRIDAYS! April 28th, was the ninth FTF event and 13 people enjoyed the good eats and drinks sold onsite. These casual early evening events are a must to attend for both the great food and the great company.
The main spring event in SLAGA-Land is the very popular Spring Picnic Event (GCA62FR). This year's was held on Saturday, April 29th at the James McDonnell County Park and was hosted by GeoConformity (Rick Rouse) and BlueDaisy (Pam Brenner). More than 60 hungry cachers stopped by to enjoy this fun gathering. For a minimal fee, SLAGA provided the grilled meats, buns, and paper products, while attendees brought all the delicious side dishes and desserts to share. The day was filled with laughter, good food, games, geocaching, and awards announcments including milestone recipients. A travel bug race was also launched which had about a dozen participants hoping their TB might accomplish the longest distance travelled, the most countries visited, or the most geocachers moving the TB along between this picnic and the Winter Potluck. Our most senior SLAGA geocache reviewer *gln (Glenn Nash) was also present and celebrated not only his birthday, but his amazing reviewer service record. Talking about milestones, Glenn has been a reviewer for over 20 years now.
Posted below are the geocachers that received their milestone awards for numbers of geocache finds.
100 FINDS
*Bear747 (Mary Hebert)
maximilian264 (Max McMillan)
mialmita (Tara Garcia) - although currently has over 500 finds
Pandaman2012 - joined July 2022 / found #100 eight months later
Judious1978 (Randal Burd) - joined June 2022 / found #100 in MS (his 8th state) five weeks later
500 FINDS
Jennibear22 (Jennifer Bearden)
*Bear747 (Mary Hebert) - with 500 finds / found caches in 9 states
5000 FINDS
paulgracie (Paul Williams)
Has fervor for the game / attempts all terrains / dedicated to get the FTF, often peddling miles on his bike.
10,000 FINDS
Karen-Lonnie (Lonnie Williams & Karen Cernieck)
Caching together since 2010 / found #10000 with the newest member of the team, Gma’s Roadster.
Gusterroids (Juile Weiss & Brett Rideout)
Caching team since 2002 with geocache finds in 45 states and 8 countries
25,000 FINDS
swelgus (Sandra Welgus)
Averaged almost 3700 caches a year over the last five years while traveling to 72 countries since 2008.
AF BEE (Craig Hollenbeck)
Has found caches in 93 countries since 2007
On Monday, May 1, following the picnic, a first-time Cache Creation and Publication Class -2023 (GCA5YTR) was held at the Thornhill Branch Library in St. Louis. It was led by long time member L Frank with the assistance of some of the SLAGA officers including our President, Cootieman (Michael Smith), and Vice President, Geokid12. A large, attentive crowd showed up with piqued interest and many great questions. Explanations of where to find and how to use Geocaching Hiding Guidelines, the Regional Geocaching Policies, and the Help Center were offered, as well as information about the regional policies and the new MODOT highway policy. The course took attendees through the process of how to get a geocache hide published step by step on the webpage, and included useful information of what to provide the reviewer to expedite the process. A new cache was actually published that evening, An Easy SLAGA Multi (GC A82R5). LFrank felt confident that the attendees left the class satisfied and more informed.
The other educational class held recently was Geocaching 101. These classes are held throughout the year, in different communities, and answers the question, "What is geocaching and how do you play?" They act as an introduction and invitation to the world’s largest treasure hunting game, and provide instructions on how to find your first geocache. SLAGA Vice President Vorlon40 (John Layman) conducted this class at Tower Grove Park and encouraged five new people to take up the hobby of geocaching. The next Geocaching 101 class will be at Queeny Park on May 20.
There are many opportunities to participate in SLAGA throughout the year, including more this month. While the calendar of local events isn't usually as busy as these recent weeks, members can always find upcoming events in SLAGA-Land! So take a look at the calendar on the Home page or filter for events in your area on geocaching.com. Make time to come out and join the fun, because the St.Louis Area Geocachers Association is full of welcoming, supportive and amazing people who love the hobby of geocaching!