By Adam Prudhomme
Staff Reporter
Geocachers once again came from far and wide to scour Lennox and Addington County for hidden treasures during the annual Discover L&A Mega Event, held on Friday and Saturday.
“We had visitors from all over North America and some overseas as well,” said Rob Plumley, community development officer with L&A County. “We were up around where we’ve always been, up around 900-1,000 people this year, which is outstanding. A lot of people were interested in the Geocaching Canada special game that we had set up for this year, we had quite a few people come through and everyone that had an opportunity to redeem the coin redeemed it.”
The county had created a special coin for the event to commemorate participants who found specific caches.
While yet to be officially recognized by Groundspeak, the Seattle-based company that created the geocaching app, it’s all but assured that Lennox and Addington’s event will be confirmed as a ‘mega’ event once again for 2018. That distinction is given to geocaching events that draw more than 500 participants and are coveted events to attend by avid players. Typically there are only two such events in Canada: one in B.C., the other in L&A County. This year, however, a third took place on the east coast.
“I think a few people decided to go to the Maritime mega that was a couple of weeks ago but I think that it also helped us because there were quite a few people that came from far distances that started their vacation in the Maritimes and came to ours as well,” said Plumley. “I think it all balanced out. There was quite a few that made it a point of attending both events.”
An added offshoot of the event is not only does it bring tourists in for the weekend, but the caches can be sought out year-round. There’s now an estimated 1,500 caches to be found within the county’s boundaries, including the 217 new ones that were added for this year’s event.
Using a smartphone, participants can register for a free online geocaching membership which will guide them to the many caches hidden throughout the region, each with a varying degree of difficulty to locate.
“They’re permanent caches and will be there for quite some time,” said Plumley.
Next year’s mega event date has already been established as Aug. 18 where it’s once again expected to draw 1,000 participants into the community.