Event Spotlight: Blast in the Park II

While Munzee can certainly be a solo game if you choose, there’s no denying the appeal in meeting others who share your interests. Munzee Events are perhaps the best example of this, as they allow you to meet both old and new players in a safe, friendly environment. On top of that, there are usually activities, games, and — if you’re lucky — goodie bags! That being said, planning events requires a considerable amount of effort. So, to make it easier for prospective hosts (and maybe even recurring hosts), we decided to put the spotlight on past events, Munzee-Toolkit style! We hope this series of posts will inspire you to try hosting an event if you never have before, or provide you with ideas to spice up future events if you’re an old hand at it!

Today we’re featuring the Blast in the Park II event, which took place on June 27, 2015 at Melbourne, FL and was hosted by DalenBarb and SpaceCoastGeoStore.

Give us a brief summary about your event!

This was a coexist event that we hosted along with our annual Picnic in the Park geocaching event that draws between 250-350 geocachers each year. This event drew close to 100 attendees.

What tips do you have when hosting an awesome event?

When we started as many others we come from a geocaching background. One of the things we love about both is the friends we have made. One thing we have learned with hosting events is players really enjoy capping munzees at events but they also love to socialize and meet other players. We always try to add some socializing aspect to our events. Do not plan too many activities that keep players too busy to have time to interact with each other. We also like to add event munzees for the event. We started the idea of using survey flags back in 2015 while co-hosting an event with annabanana in Nebraska. We arrived at the location and found nothing to attach event munzees to and she said her husband (wemissmo) had some flags. So we used those and they worked great and now folks all over are using these type flags for event munzees. We also like to give out prizes for players that walk around and cap all event munzees. Being in Florida we try to make sure we always have some cold drinks to keep players hydrated, very important here. One final thing, grow the map in the area prior to the event. Incorporate those munzees into your event activities and earn lots of cap on points.

What made your event unique?

We created the Space Coast Geocachers back in 2007 and have been hosting this annual geocaching event ever since. In 2014 we created the Florida Munzee Hunters group that ignited players all over Florida to get involved in the game of munzee. This event really kick started the large community of players across Florida that we know today. One of the most unique things about this event was Rob aka President of Munzee was in attendance as well as all four of the Florida geocaching reviewers which is very rare in itself. We had Safari Todd at this event who is an exotic animal handler. He always brings a live alligator to the event and one of our eventzee clues was to get your pic holding a live alligator.

Would you like to highlight any future events you’re hosting?

Blast in the Park on February 20th at Wickham Park Melbourne, Florida (not on the calendar yet).

Thank you to DalenBarb and SpaceCoastGeoStore for being such great hosts and submitting the details for this event! We will be reaching out to other past event hosts in the future, so keep an eye on your inbox!