Call it electronic treasure hunting.
Players use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile phone to hide and seek out small containers, called “geocaches” or “caches,” typically small, waterproof containers with a logbook and a pen or pencil inside hidden at various places in say, a city.
Players enter the date they found the container, sign their established code name and return the container to its hidey-hole.
Geocaching is an increasingly popular pastime that draws in players from throughout the state, the nation and even overseas.
Which makes it a natural tourism mechanism for “putting heads in beds.”
Recently the Auburn Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) and the Auburn Tourism Board decided to give funds to five applicants as follows: $8,000 to the Mexican Independence Festival; $6,500 to the Auburn Veterans Day Parade, $3,500 to the Emerald Downs 3-on-3 basketball tournament; $250 to the Auburn Symphony Orchestra – and $3,500 to Geocaching, $2,500 more than it had at first requested.At the same time, the committee opted to provide no funding to Hops and Crops, a harvest festival the White River Valley Museum throws at the Mary Olson Farm on Green River Road every September.
Which puzzled the Auburn City Council.
“I always thought Hops and Crops had a good turnout, so I’m wondering what the rationale is for not giving any to Hops and Crops and for giving additional to (Geocaching),” Councilman Wayne Osborne said at the July 20 City Council meeting.
The sticking point, said Auburn Mayor and LTAC Chair Nancy Backus, is that Hops and Crops showcases not only a diverse marketplace of crafters, farmers and artisans, it serves alcohol, too, small samples of beer brewed by local microbreweries available, for a buck.
Backus noted that some committee members were uncertain whether the LTAC should support an alcohol-related event.
Among other knocks against Hops and Crops: the donation should go to promote “Don’t Drive and Drive;” and Hops and Crops should have shuttles available.
Backus recalled that Geocaching supporters at first had informed the committee that $1,000 would meet their needs. Then people started talking about how many people the event would bring in and that most of the Geocaching events have something going on the night before.
“Probably, there’ll be more hotel spaces reserved for that event than for anything other than the Veterans Day Parade, which we also received an application for,” said Backus.
To move an item to final action by the Auburn City Council, the LTAC must have a quorum and at least two hoteliers in attendance. Of the 10 people present for the vote, some had items for presentation for potential distribution of the lodging tax dollars.
Patricia Cosgrove, director of the White River Valley Museum, was in a good mood.
“We’ve never applied before this year. It would have been a new thing,” said Cosgrove.
Groups that receive funds are invited to reapply during the next round, but they must return to update the LTAC to ensure that they used the grant received in the manner they had said it would be and to provide statistics on the number of rooms rented as a result.
“We have a healthy reserve, and the budget that was approved by council provided for basic allocations. Since we have a reserve, the LTAC will request council’s approval for a budget amendment that will allow for another round of funding this year in the fall, and then going forward on an annual basis,” said Auburn Tourism Manager Debbie Luce.
As rules prevent the City from increasing the amount of lodging tax dollars allocated, only decreasing them, council members were left with no palatable options.
“I really appreciate the time that these various committees put into this, they study this well and they know the value of things. I am not a proponent of changing what they’re proposing, I just want to share that I am a little disappointed, but I understand the time they spent,” said Councilmember Largo Wales, voicing the common sentiment of the council, which voted unanimously in favor.
