Hello, Due to the COVID-19 pandemic your Wisconsin Volunteer Reviewers had discontinued publishing new physical geocaches for a time. The current “safer at home” order is set to expire at 8 a.m. Tuesday, May 26, and as we look towards reopening the state and getting back to the new normal, we have the following plans in place: • All listings submitted for review on and after May 1st will be reviewed and then placed on hold with a tentative release date of May 31st (at noon). Please note that for caches to be released the park system must be open. If the parks are still not open at this time the release date will moved appropriately to another date. The 31st was chosen so that streaks could possibly continue for the month of May.
• Events will not resume publication until a later, yet to be determined, date. The date will be set after we enter Phase two of EMERGENCY ORDER #31 (Badger Bounce Back). Please do not submit events intended to occur on or prior to at least June 7th at this time. Also understand that events are subject to being disabled or archived if they are set to occur prior to the state’s actual entry into phase two of Badger Bounce Back…again we do not know when that will be.
https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/WIGOV/2020/04/20/file_attachments/1431309/EMO31-BadgerBounceBack.pdf
“Phase Two will include allowing mass gatherings of up to 50 people…”
Thanks for being good friends and neighbors during this time. We hope to see you all out on the trails and at events again soon!
Your Wisconsin Volunteer Reviewers
-Bec and Johnny Waypoint,
For updates and more information follow this link:
https://www.geocaching.com/sites/updates/en/
The #saferathome lifestyle has left me feeling like I have less free time than normal, so I’m a bit late getting these out. Regardless, here are the minutes from our most recent meeting on April 5 at 6pm. Topics this month included the typical committee reports as well as discussions about cancelled and future events, our social media strategy, and requirements for logging caches in our state park series. All the cool kids read the meeting minutes, so take a look!
Due to Gov. Evers #safeathome extension our reviewer’s have also extended the cache publishing ban till June 1st. Thank you for the understanding with the difficult times we face. Please stay safe.
During these unprecedented times we had to sadly cancel our Lonely Cache Game Event back at the end of March. We then were planning to include it with our Spring Campout which sadly as well was cancelled.
But we decided to not let that stop us to congratulate and recognize those that worked so hard searching for the lonely caches around WI last year! So to adopt to the current times we will be holding a Facebook LIVE Virtual Lonely Cache Game Event on Sunday April 26th at 3PM! (You do not have to have a Facebook account to watch, just click the link below.)
Tune in at the WGA’s Facebook Live Stream at 3PM on April 26th (CLICK HERE or visit our FB Page) to learn what the WGA’s Lonely Cache Game is all about, get a report on last years stats, and see the final results as we look to recognize the various players. Don’t worry if you have questions we will have a live Q&A and will read from the comments any questions you may have about how to play the Lonely Cache Game for when you are personally comfortable and ready to go outside caching.
We are looking forward to trying something new and to try and connect with our fellow WGA members. We are looking forward to this opportunity that hopefully if you weren’t able to travel to the event previously that you can connect from the comforts of your home. If you are unable to catch us live you should be able to find the video later on our Facebook page to watch at your convenience.
Due to the corona virus pandemic, Geocaching HQ has extended the time frame for Community Celebration Events to be held. Originally, Community Celebration Events were to be held between May 1 and December 31, 2020. The new time frame allows events to be held through December 31, 2021.
Your Wisconsin reviewers have been monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently we stopped publishing events; this was done to promote social distancing in accordance to state and federal guidelines. As this pandemic is getting more serious each day we feel it is in everyone’s best to follow the essential travel guidelines. Therefore, beginning at 7 a.m. this morning, and for the remainder of at least the month of April we will not be publishing any new geocaches. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Stay safe
-Johnny Waypoint and Bec
In an emergency ZOOM meeting, I spoke to the reviewers and learned that they have had a change of heart about taking their leave. Johnny Waypoint said, “I took a long bike ride and it occurred to me that other than working for special Ops faking alien abductions, reviewing is one of the best gigs out there. I mean you can’t beat the hours…or the pay!” Bec mentioned that while she was spending a whole lot more time at home these days, “…the dog bit me in the rear end three times today and the cat has been a bit more psycho than usual; that has to mean something. It’s almost like they could sense something was wrong…like maybe there was a disturbance in the force or maybe Timmy fell down the well again. Yeah, just like that time Timmy fell down the well. Wait, what?”
Johnny and Bec mentioned that their reviewing might seem erratic for a while but it’s just a sign of the times. They also agreed that TP hoarding, while kind of funny, was not all that useful in the end (then Johnny snickered and repeated. “you said the end”). After some eye rolling on my part, I let them go (OK I hung up on them). Who knew happy hour started this early in the day…but then this is Wisconsin. It looks like the reviewers are going to hang out a little bit longer.
I have just been informed that the Wisconsin reviewers have officially called it quits. This email was sent to me late this morning:
Bec and I (Johnny Waypoint) have had several discussions of late, and with all that is going on we have come to the conclusion that it’s time to set aside our reviewing responsibilities and concentrate on family. Bec has more than ten years of reviewing under her belt and feels like it may be time to allow some fresh blood into the Wisconsin reviewing arena. Myself, I’ve been your reviewer for nearly 5 years now and while this is a difficult decision for me I too need to step aside and allow someone new to take over. We understand that this is not the ideal time to step aside but as 60% of the world’s reviewers are no longer publishing geocaches this is probably the best time to take our leave. We have notified Groundspeak this morning of our intentions and they will hopefully assign someone to our area within the next few weeks. It has been an honor to be at your service and we hope you keep those you love close, and enjoy this first day of April.
