Thanks to Julie Henning for this story about an upcoming geocaching event in Cambridge, Ohio.
Take a trip back in time this winter, experiencing old world England in historic downtown Cambridge, Ohio. Created in 2006, Dickens Victorian Village is a public art exhibition on display from early-November through mid-January along Wheeling Avenue in downtown Cambridge. Inspired by the characters and scenes from Charles Dickens’ novels, Dickens Victorian Village features 185 life-like mannequins and 80 scenes this 2011-2012 season.
Cambridge is also ground zero for a winter-friendly geocaching event.
Partnering with the Cambridge/Guernesy County Visitors & Convention Bureau for the second year in a row, Ohio geocacher David "CatsInTheCradle" Waters just announced the approval of the Cambridge Christmas at Dickens Village II event on Geocaching.com. (GC34JJ3).
“I moved into the [Cambridge] area in June of 2010 and I knew of the Dickens Victorian Village. I wanted to share it with the geocaching community. There are some similar events that highlight great city/town tourism events (GC1DM1V comes to mind) and I wanted to show off an amazing Cambridge attraction.”
Waters will place approximately 70 temporary caches on an approximately one mile route along Wheeling Avenue and by the Guernsey County Courthouse for the event scheduled from 3:00 p.m.until 9:30 p.m.on Saturday, November 12, 2011. The event is 100% wheelchair and stroller accessible, participants are encouraged to gather around coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies, geocaching before and after one of four computer-controlled—30,000 lights choreographed and set to music—holiday lights shows at the courthouse.
Holding the event twice in 2010, Waters recalls, “We had about 40 at the first event and about 75 at the second one.” Coordinating the event with the help of geocaching friends, last year’s event drew attendees from the Pittsburgh Area Geocaching Association, Ohio Valley Geocaching Association, and The Wilderness Center Geocaching Club.
“I had geocachers come in from within a 100 mile area,” Waters added. “Many of them were people I know or friends of people I know, but I had one group came in from Toledo Ohio just for the event. When I did the same event for my children's eSchool, Ohio Virtual Academy, I had a family drive in all the way from Dayton.”
“We were blown away by the number of people that attended last year’s geocaching event,” said Jonett Haberfield, Dickens Victorian Village Co-Chair. “People came as far away as Pittsburgh. We plan to provide special souvenirs and coupons for geocaches, as well as advertise the event in both the website and 2011 Visitor’s Guide.”
Fundamentally, the event is similar to last year. Dickens Victorian Village is bigger and better, and the city of Cambridge has been undergoing revitalization all summer long. “The Structure of my event has not changed, but Cambridge just had a facelift, so the benches and light posts are new 'antiques' and the vignettes will not all be in the same places they were,” Waters added. In addition to donations from Haberfield and Dickens Victorian Village, Waters hopes to have engraved wooden nickels available to this year’s event participants.
Bio: Julie Henning is the Feed Me and Geocaching editor for Road Trips for Families, a site for families who love the open road. An expert in family-friendly Wisconsin, she has written two iPhone apps, Madison Loves Kids and Milwaukee Loves Kids. A member of the Midwest Travel Writers Association, Julie is a regular contributor to her hometown newspaper in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband and three young children.
Text © Julie Henning 2011 All rights reserved. Photos courtesy of David Waters and the Cambridge/Guernsey County CVB. Text and photos used with permission.
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