Brummelbear's Letterbox - the Big Day!

It's finally here!

Sunny skies greeted us on Saturday as we gathered in Royal Oak to celebrate Brummelbear! It's like he was smiling down on us as 70+ friends gathered at First Presbyterian. 

First we setup his Letterbox containers - 23 cachers went home with a complete kit including stamp, ink, logbook, golf pencils, trademark Brummelbear pencil sharpeners and swag. Will they take the 1-year Brummelbear challenge? We already heard that 1 has been hidden/submitted and two are in the works!

The other side of the awesome fireplace (why didn't I take pictures of the fireplace?!?!) were the raffle prizes! Stamp journal & ink pads, rubber stamp-making kit, Tiger goods, rooster steampunk geocoin, and...

Michigan State Park guides and stickers! We have the geotour coming this summer!

So much fun! We had lines of people even before the event began - LINES OF FRIENDS joining us for fun, and TaGeez checked them all in!

Look at our cool logbook! It's a letterboxing event so, anyone who checked in with a stamp received an extra raffle ticket! Quite a few of them are home made! And we had an event stamp for their books, too!

And for the first 48 through the door (we had over 70!), we gave out these cool packets! I wrote this newsletter about hiding & finding letterboxes, items to carry in your letterboxing pack, and the top 10 letterboxes in Michigan. After the event, there were groups who went out and found some of the local ones! I LOVED reading those logs.

Packets had the newsletter, a stamp journal, packet of Wet Ones plus a raffle ticket.

And much love from the family! My brother & sister-in-law secured the room for us, set out coffee & water, and were just awesome in their support. Little sister, WikidKriket, came to share the love, too!

TaGeez, WikidKriket and Scrapcat

And they came! We counted over 70 friends joined us for the celebration!

Including his wife (Diana), sister (Harriet) and one of our speakers (Bruce of Bapman Crew)! Bruce kicked off the presentations with a great history of letterboxing wherein warship would notify the supply ships of battle victories and destinations by leaving messages behind in rock piles. As with the other presenters, Bruce also shared some of his favorite letterbox stories, too.

Looks like a lot of happy faces! 

After Bruce, Tim (Rattrak) spoke of his favorite letterboxes and tips for hiding letterboxes, too.

In between the presenters, I energized the crowds with a little audience participation (rewarding raffle tickets) and letterboxing tales, too.

Roger (South Lyon Trekkers) rounded off the presentations with letterbox stamps. As he started his presentation, Roger said, "Everything I need for this presentation is in my clothes." And the rest was just as fun! It was a good 20 minutes of pre-made stamps, custom stamps and (woo hoo!) handmade stamps. 

Success! Victory dance with Caching Fire afterwards!

Speaking of which, I put together a letterbox journal with a trackable attached, and its already made its way to Alaska!

The Triangle Stamp is our event stamp!

It was a beautiful event, and I really think we would've made Brummelbear proud.  Tired, happy... TaGeez and I relaxed afterwards in Atwood at the Park while our friends enjoyed the Letterboxes nearby. We're keeping our eyes open to see how many new letterboxes appear in the next year.

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Creation Celebration: Brummelbear’s Letterboxes

FIVE DAYS TO GO!

Join us in Royal Oak for Brummelbear's Letterbox - hiding or finding Letterbox Hybrid geocaches and all-about-stamps! Learn how-to from Rattrak, Bapman Crew and South Lyon Trekkers!

Swag bags for the first 48 attendees, dozens of giveaways from Brummelbear's private stash, five larger raffle prizes, plus the Creation Celebration souvenir! Sign the log with your Letterbox stamp to receive an extra ticket in the raffles!

Saturday, April 13th from 12:30 to 2:30.

https://coord.info/GC84TG7

Brummelbear's Letterboxes

The Spring before he passed, Brummelbear took me aside during the Belle Isle event. He made me promise that I would host a Letterboxing hybrid geocache event. Then he proceeded to unload boxes of letterboxing supplies into my car. 

This year the Belle Isle event is dedicated to dear Brummelbear, and, with the advent of Geocaching.com's Creation Celebration, it seemed like the perfect time to host this event.

Don't forget the Creation Celebration souvenir!

Located at the First Presbyterian Church in Royal Oak, this event will feature three presenters

Starmps are a part of the celebration so, for fun, I ordered this nifty trackable stamp from Cache-Corner.de (Germany). We will use this stamp at the Brummelbear Letterboxes event and when we visit special caches on our travels.

I can't wait for the event - it's going to be such fun! I hope everyone can attend!

Where have you gone, Brummelbear?

Brummelbear, a gentleman and a scholar

I met Brummelbear in 2013 when he sent me the sweetest email. I had just grabbed several FTF's on his new Detroit MLT geocaches. He loved both Detroit history and geocaching so releasing Michigan Lost Town caches was right up his alley. His congratulatory email was my introduction to his passion for telling long, detailed (and did I say "long") narratives about Detroit. He had been a principal in the Detroit Public School system for 20 years! Typical of this smiling, generous soul, Brummelbear ended his email with an admonishment for geocaching this rough area alone.

Brummelbear was one of the Belle Isle Cachers, who host an annual event and bi-annual CITO. You were guaranteed to find him bellied up to the grill, cooking hot dogs (he always picked out the best for me). He always had a smile and a story to tell - he always gave you his full attention and treated even the newbies as if we'd been friends for life.

Spring Belle Isle Event - 2014

Brummelbear, Rattrak, Caching Fire, and Team Rumble

Fall CITO - 2014

Fall CITO - 2014

But things changed last year. TaGeez had broken his leg so he manned the grill with our late friend Othum. Brummelbear had been diagnosed with the same cancer that struck Othum and would only be paying a short visit to the event he loved so much. At that time, he was still looking robust with that lovely twinkle in his eye, but he was moving slower, trailing behind his lovely golden retriever. He had specifically wanted to see me, and he extracted a promise from me as he unloaded his geocaching supplies from his van to my car. And, in his memory, I will be hosting a letterboxing 101 event in his memory later this year. 

We said goodbye to dear Brummelbear today. 

His service was lovely. Admittedly, one of my favorite parts was the priest eulogizing, “Leo and his son, David, enjoyed taking walks in the woods. They liked to find tupperware. What is this thing about finding Tupperware while in the woods? Anyone know what this is? I don’t understand it.”

After leaving the church, TaGeez and I headed to Detroit to hide a cache in his honor. It is, of course, hidden in the woods and in Detroit in his memory. It's 24 days until the annual Belle Isle event; although someone else will be cooking the hot dogs I know we will feel Brummelbear's presence every step we take.