Crowds find GPS-based treasures
It’s not unusual to see someone walking down Broad Street, eyes affixed on their smartphones. For the past four days, Romans have watched hundreds of visitors to the community wandering all over town, human search engines — all looking for hidden treasures during the third Going Caching Mega-Event hosted by Rome.
Families and individuals came from all over the country to Floyd County for the past four days, culminating with a huge event in Ridge Ferry Park Saturday.
J.B. and Janet Barrett from Columbus were among those on the hunt for caches at the park Saturday, a place that is near and dear to their hearts. He proposed to her at the 2014 event in Rome and got married at
the 2015 event in Ridge Ferry Park.
J.B. Barrett said he had been caching since 2006. “I looked online for treasure hunting and GPSes, and geocaching came up,” Barrett said. “I made
an account, went out and found a couple and I was hooked.”
Barrett said he and his wife once did an overnight spur-of-the moment 13-hour drive from Columbus, to St. Charles, Missouri, for a Woodstock event.
The Cheshire family from Hiram made the short drive to Rome, where Brent and his son Hunter, and daughter Kinsey met up with Brent’s niece Bailey Cook, to spend a couple of days doing the high-tech treasure hunts. Cook said she really enjoyed the play that was staged from the bandstand at Ridge Ferry Park. Kinsey Cheshire said she enjoyed making the trip and just participating in the event for several days.
“We have been caching for seven years,” Brent Cheshire said. “What we really enjoy is just meeting people and all the creative caches Jim and Andi do.”
Jim Williamson and Andi Beyer of Rome are the lead organizers for the event and have a crew of close friends from all over the Southeast who help put on the event.
David Poker of Knoxville, Tennessee, said he has been caching for nine years, getting his start looking for geocoins. “This is the best event out there by far,” Poker said. “There are so many different things going on here, there’s something for everybody.”
During a presentation to the Seven Hills Rotary Club late in September, Williamson and Beyer indicated they hope to make the event an annual event in Rome. Last year they held the Going Caching event near Pine Mountain, but said the logistics of hosting an event out-of-town proved to be a little too difficult.