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Geocachers find their way to Bell Buckle

Sunday, May 24, 2009
By Mary Reeves

The crowd listening to 'Uncle Tom's Band' at the main stage in Bell Buckle was only a small fraction of the number who showed up Saturday for GeoWoodstock VII, an international convention for geocaching.
(T-G Photo by Mary Reeves)
[Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Most people, when wandering around a strange town -- even one as small as Bell Buckle -- will look at maps to figure out where they're going.

Not Saturday.

The treasure-hunting geocachers wandered around town peering into their handheld GPS devices, trying to find the fire hall, the banquet hall, Capt. Rodney's Stage, and, of course, the portable bathrooms.

"They didn't give us directions," said Brenda Bain of Clarksville, Ark. "They give us coordinates."

Crowd arrives

Bain was one of an estimated 5,000 geocachers to show up in Bell Buckle for GeoWoodstock VII, the international convention and mega geocaching event. White, black, Asian, Hispanic, old, young, marathon runners and senior citizens with artificial hips -- there was hardly a demographic not represented at the gathering. The parking lots were filled to maximum capacity with Harley Davidsons, VWs, BMWs, Priuses, Metros and ancient Ford pickups.

"These are the nicest bunch of people," said Ronnie Lokey, the town's volunteer fire chief.

Bell Buckle hosted the main convention, with vendor booths, GPS seminars, a live band, and even a petting zoo. But the cachers were all over Middle Tennessee Thursday, Friday and Saturday, finding the caches hidden around the area.

"I met some who came last week and are staying until next week," said Rodney Simmons, who was helping with the event. "My grandkids got to meet some from China."

"I've been wanting to come for a long time," said Bain. "We stopped at a lot of places along the way and we'll cache this afternoon."

Seeking 'things'

The cachers have their own sense of humor, too. The caches are often hidden in plastic containers to protect the contents from the weather, and one booth offered T-shirts that said "Tupperware can run, but it can't hide."

But it was a sign in the GeoWoodstock "Museum," a quote from the author Blaise Pascal, that summed up the attitude of the participants.

"We never seek things for themselves -- what we seek is the very seeking of things."

Despite the sudden population increase -- from around 400 to 5,000 -- things appeared to be going smoothly Saturday morning.

"It's been madness, but it's been going great," said Simmons. "We had people lined up like it was the Webb craft show. It's been so great, it's kind of scary. There haven't been any hang-ups at all."

Town benefits

Custom buttons, tags and other specialty items were offered by vendors at GeoWoodstock. The cachers save, trade, and have been known to play poker with the GeoCoins they collect.
(T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]
The natives may grumble about the traffic a bit, but the overall benefit for the town will be good, he said. Every store had shoppers, and few left without making some sort of purchase. Little Joe Sheetz, the award-winning, adolescent barrista at the coffee shop, worked to a standing-room-only crowd.

"I had to give one guy a ride back to his car, he had so many bags," said Simmons.

GeoWoodstock was held in Sacramento, Calif., last year -- a far cry from the setting it had this year. Some cachers were concerned.

"I was worried," said Aaron Lohrbach of North Carolina. "It's such a little town, I thought the geocachers would just tear it apart. But it's been amazing."

It was Aaron's first GeoWoodstock, but his opinion was echoed by Darrell Peace -- who helped organize the very first one in Louisville and hasn't missed one since.

"I think it's wonderful. Of course they're all unique, and I'll always swear the first one was the best," he joked.

Peace agreed with one of this year's even coordinators, Brad Simmons, about one thing.

"This is, without a doubt, the biggest one," he said.

Comments

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Geeks, techies and want-to-be hippies

-- Posted by BellBuckleKid on Mon, May 25, 2009, at 7:42 AM

Geeks, techies and want-to-be hippies

-- Posted by BellBuckleKid on Mon, May 25, 2009, at 7:44 AM

Geeks, techies and want-to-be hippies that spent money in Bell Buckle! Who cares?!

-- Posted by neighborhood mom on Tue, May 26, 2009, at 8:50 PM

As one of those geeks, techies, and want-to-be hippies who was there and lives in Smyrna, I am glad that those Geeks, techies, and want to be hippies (from now on referred to as g,t,&wtbh) came to our area and spent their money. I'm sure the managers, servers, and bartenders at Legands in Shelbyville appreciated the over 100 g,t,&wtbh that ate there Sunday night. I'm sure the owners of the locally owned pizza joint in Antioch enjoyed the over 150 g,t,&wtbh spending their money. In this economy anytime you can get greater then 5000 people in your community spending money that is great news.

Better yet spend a little bit of your money and discover a hobby that will get your family of its butt, away from the TV, computer, and video game console and out in the beautiful country side that we are fortunate to have in Mid TN. I have seen more places in the last year and a half then in the last 30 that I've lived here!

-- Posted by jeffbouldin on Wed, May 27, 2009, at 5:53 PM

I'm sorry some of the people in Bell Buckle didn't appreciate the "Geeks, techies and want-to-be hippies" that descended on Bell Buckle for GeoWoodstock VII. Quite a few of those people were friends of mine and every single one of them were singing the praises of your town. And to be honest we are very proud to be geeks, techies and hippies. Although I have been called a soccer mom more than a hippie. But I am thrilled that geocaching has given me and my children the opportunity to get out of our house and see parts of the country we never would have found if not for a geocache being close by. We have created lots of wonderful memories and they don't revolve around a television.

Oh, and if anyone happens to get lost - stop a geocacher - we always know where we are.

-- Posted by busymom23 on Wed, May 27, 2009, at 10:39 PM

Just wanted to update this a bit. The number of geocachers visiting Bell Buckle is now estimated at 7,000 -- that's 2,000 more than expected. When volunteers went down Monday to clean up the camping area where the tents and RVs had been -- there was nothiong to clean. The cachers not only bagged their garbage, they took it with them! If only all of our visitors (and some of our residents)were as considerate!

As far as the techs, geeks, etc., read my response to that in my column at http://www.t-g.com/story/1542523.html.

-- Posted by MotherMayhem on Thu, May 28, 2009, at 2:02 AM

Hi! I just wanted to report in relation to this article that Runningdeerz (my wife) and I, Cornishchough (our user names on the geocaching.com site) had a wonderful time in TN. We took a 5 day vacation for the travel and stay. I was last in TN for the World's Fair in 1982 and other than the Geocaching convention had no reason to come back. Both of us having worked in the hospitality industry ourselves, we both know that in bad times, you need to have some reason for tourists to come to your area.

Now that we have come to the area, we may return as it is really beautiful. We didn't have time to make it to Lynchburg, and we would like to visit Nashville. We stayed in Manchester, in a very nice and new Choice Suites there, and visited restaurants in Murfreesboro, and Chatanooga as well as spending money in Bell Buckle.

In short we had a wonderful time, but in response to the commenters who were poo-pooing the event, tourists spend money along their whole route, not just the end points, helping everyone along the way. Being involved in the industry, I also know that 'word of mouth' advertising goes a long way, in both directions. Ask any of the Va. Beach hotels here how the business was after the 'Greek Week' fiasco hit the news a few years back.

-- Posted by Cornishchough on Thu, May 28, 2009, at 8:45 PM

I'm sure you are old enough to recall the original Woodstock. I find it interesting that the organizers use "GeoWoodstock" as their luring advertisement to draw in the flock of "g,t&wtbH"

I doubt many of the respondents know what the 60's era Woodstock consisted of. The anti-establishment anti-social movement and dis-regard for social proprieties which culminated with an enormous spectacle of sex, drugs and rock n roll.

I chide these GeoCachers as "wannabe hippies" for their longing to associate under the festive "Woodstock" montage,

I commend the "cachers" adherence to public norms and decency they were a good crowd to have in town. I did mingle through the crowd and didn't see any sex nor drugs, and the rock n roll was in good taste and at an appropriate noise level. But shouldn't they drop the "GeoWoodstock" moniker and leave it simply as GeoCaching?

As for geek and techie, I consider myself one. Having worked with computers since the early eighties even before PC's, probably longer than the majority of cachers have been around. I'm amazed those two simple words induced such raw sensitivity with their use. How frail is ones self valuation when one cannot entrain the thought of being labeled by technically correct verbage. Why is geek and techie presumed to be an insult when they are merely descriptive labels? I've been called both and find no insult nor harm from either and my psyche not bruised from their having been blasted against my eardrums. What a sensitive society we have become.

As for Bell Buckle, there are a few indigenous residents longing for the days of the true Bell Buckle. One not based on dollars brought in in trade and craft fairs and events of economic stimulus. A town once quaint and quiet and peaceful and never intruded upon nor yards trodden down and trampled and trashed by hordes of seekers trying to find a reason for passing their time away. The Bell Buckle they come to see, the one they fantasize about does not exist because they come. Their very existence dispels the concept of which they seek. The real Bell Buckle is here when they are not. It is an elusive place for sure, and only a few privileged ones have known her.

The false and common image portrayed of her was in the name of greed, to lure and separate the holder from the held, a green segregator.

-- Posted by BellBuckleKid on Fri, May 29, 2009, at 9:55 PM

Psssssssst, If you want to see REAL HIPPIES go to Humboldt County in N.W. Calif. They still exist, they still have Hippie Fests ... the revisit to the 60's will have you doing double takes to the point where you could suffer whiplash. Again Many Thanks for the hospitality and that goes to the BellBuckleKid as well.

-- Posted by humboldt flier on Mon, Jun 1, 2009, at 8:38 PM