Taylor Agrees To Participate In Two-County Geocaching Event

Brubaker noted that geocaching involves finding sites through a set of coordinates. Participants will find that site, take something that has been left there and leave something. He noted that small towns in other states are doing this and have people come from all over to participate.

“…(P)eople go to as many sites as they can during the time to qualify to win a big prize,” said Brubaker, noting that people will come for many years to experience geocaching in our area.

The association asked each community to contribute $6,000 to the project over two years, which would be used to purchase a big prize.

Each community would be responsible to pick its sites. Brubaker said he thought it would be a good way to promote the town.

Geocaching had been discussed previously and some council members were not in favor of participating. Town Manager Gus Lundberg explained that since those first conversations, association officials learned of a group that was organized regarding water conservation. Money was donated for the effort by communities in Navajo and Apache counties, but it was never used. Eagar has kept the corporate filings up to date, but there have been no activities, so it was suggested those funds be used for the geocaching event on the behalf of all the cities and towns. This would lower the required donation for two years to $3,000.

“People are interested in this stuff,” said Lundberg, and the trail would be laid out from Winslow to Round Valley. Taylor would be able to educate people about its events and the rodeo grounds.

Vice Mayor Shawn Palmer added the historic homes to the list.

“We put the sites at different places we want the people to go,” explained Brubaker, noting there will be more meetings held to coordinate with other towns. This is an activity that can be done as a family or as an individual. “It’s something that doesn’t go away, and it draws people to different sites,” said Brubaker.

“When you said a lot of people, what kind of numbers? How many sites?” asked Palmer.

Brubaker replied that the number of sites would be up to the town. “The number of people is something I would have to research more, however it’s our hope that it’s in the thousands, not hundreds,” he said.

Councilman Carl Cosper recalled that he worked on a campground at the Grand Canyon and there was a geocaching event that brought all kinds of people from different countries. “There were a lot of people there that were looking for that geocaching,” he said. “I know it could work…It could be something that would be a big draw to make us do something.”

A motion to spend $3,000 over the next two years to help fund the geocaching activity passed unanimously.