An upcoming geocache event is expected to bring hundreds of people to the White Mountains, Scott Bowler advised the Taylor Town Council last week.
Bowler said this would be a three-week event held on weekends, and would offer some big prizes such as a car and 4-wheeler, bringing a lot of people to Navajo County.
“They want each community to have 10 places to show off their town. Each of these 10 places would have the coordinates, and people would come and look for the box that has commemorative coins. The more coins participants have, the more likely they would be to win the big prizes,” he explained.
Participating communities include Taylor, Snowflake, Show Low, Pinetop/Lakeside, Springerville and Eagar. Winslow and Holbrook are “still on the fence,” said Bowler.
Bowler said they would like three of those places to be difficult to get to, requiring hiking, biking or an ATV.
The company that is helping coordinate the geocache event has a website, geocaching.com.
“This will be one of the bigger ones they’ve put on. It will get some attention,” said Bowler.
Suggestions to date for Taylor sites include the Shumway School, the Taylor Museum, the Hancock Cabin, the rodeo grounds, Freeman Park, the cemetery and the Taylor Ball Park. Bowler said a cool thing is to have the geocache on the second story of a place, and that could be the burn tower at Northern Arizona Training Center.
Eddie Hancock was present and had several suggestions, such as the four-mile ruins, a trading center where it is estimated that well over 1,200 people resided 1,500 years ago. He also suggested other historic sites.
Bowler thought that something could be on the geosite to give history of the site they are looking for.
In other business, Town Manager Gus Lundberg showed a two-minute ad for the White Mountain Partnership regional promotion, WMAZ Adventure. Lundberg said that they have a new advertising firm and are happy with it. The new firm has brought a fresh look to the website.
Lundberg noted that the promotion is an effort to get people here, and continues through June. There are six locations, including one in Taylor, that with the help of an app on a smart phone, allows visitors to go on a scavenger hunt to find each site. A beacon will check off each site they visit. Prizes include an adventure package valued at $346, a spa and play package valued at $380, and a Tourist WMAZ package valued at $350 that includes a two night stay at the Heritage Bed & Breakfast and a $50 gift card to Celebrations. The Taylor beacon will be located at Stock Up Feed and Tack.
The council approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona Department of Revenue.
Lundberg explained that each of the 91 cities and towns in the state are under the same agreement, so there isn’t an opportunity to request any changes. He noted that there have been several meetings on this, and input from many cities and towns has been given.
The council tabled the approval of the 2016 tentative budget and will have a work session later this month to discuss issues brought up at the work session held prior to last week’s council meeting.
