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Written by Terri Nealon

Published: May 03 2026

Last Updated: May 03 2026

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Spring has sprung and more than fifty geocachers took advantage of it! The SLAGA spring picnic was held on Saturday April 25, 2026 at Bolm-Schuhkraft park in beautiful Columbia, Illinois. The three lovely hosts were 3nina, 6dancer & NEgirl55 who planned a great day out. Three local reviewers graced us with their presence and support of SLAGA, and board members were also in attendance. Treasurer Vorlon40 collected fees and VP GeoKid12 sold merchandise and handed out a single 10K milestone award. VP Rouseabouts announced upcoming events and business, and Secretary TreasureIsle took mental notes for future meeting minutes.

As always, SLAGA members outdid themselves at the picnic with absolutely delicious salads, sides, and desserts to share. These accompanied the perfectly cooked brats, dogs and burgers by Turtleladi1020nhubbs! All in attendance enjoyed a feast and camaraderie under the large shelter in gorgeous 75°F.

A Trackable discovery/pickup board was on display at the picnic, and member HobbitTaz collected new racing trackables from cachers for the June to January travel bug race. If anyone still wants to join the race, contact him via GC.com message before May 15 to arrange a hand-off.  (For more Race information, see the article posted March 31.)

To add more excitement to the spring picnic, the hosts provided yard games adjacent to the shelter, including:  Ping-pong roll, Hillbilly golf, and a couple of cornhole/bean bag toss games. 

 NEgirl55 said, “We had two games with prizes. One was the ping pong roll in which HobbitTaz held the lead with 10 points until SWAseeker rolled his way to 15 points for the win. The other was Hillbilly golf which came down to a tie between hopeza and SWAseeker. In the championship round hopeza prevailed. Each of them won a $15 Schnucks gift card and a cache to be hidden in a place of their choosing.”

The spring SLAGA picnic was a ton of fun and a huge success thanks to the organizers, volunteers, board, and all the members in attendance. If you were unable to make this event, check the SLAGA calendar of events for future ones, including happy hours, CITO's, and other local events hosted by the many wonderful SLAGA members.  Thanks to all that attended and Congratulations to TerriBikes+ on her 10K milestone and award chair!  

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Written by Terri Nealon

Published: February 14 2026

Last Updated: February 14 2026

Hits: 781

The 2026 Winter Potluck SLAGA picnic, hosted by L Frank and Denmother was held on Jan 31, 2026.  It was a cozy gathering this winter in The Lemay Pavillion at Jefferson Barracks County Park.  More than 60 members plus several muggles attended the potluck bringing and sharing a delicious spread of food including salads, soups, pastas, meats and sandwiches, veggies, chips, and a very nice array of scrumptious deserts.  "There was enough food that attendees could visit the 'buffet' three times!," said CO L Frank.

Wonderful volunteers assisted the COs so the event ran smoothly and included several fun activities.  Many thanks to the following members for jobs well done. 

SETUP                                        spiritwolf922, Treasure Isle, Rouseabouts

FOOD TABLE                             SWAseeker, nan-d1955

REGISTRATION/GEOBINGO    How-D, Treasure Isle

50-50 TICKETS                           turtleladi1020

GEOCOINS/TRAVEL BUGS      6dancer

RAFFLE/TICKET SALES           bluedaisy, Loonwoman

CLEANUP                                   arabbit&ubuck

In addition to the picnic activities, there were various awards handed out.  The 9-month long travel bug race culminated at this picnic with the announcement of winners. Here are all the winners from this year's potluck event:

5000 MILESTONE - Mathmanbill

 50-50 WINNER - bazfum

GEO-BINGO WINNERS $10 Gift card:

Repmul, Team DLADL, Driver2, IBEW ret, and How-D

TRAVEL BUG RACE WINNERS $25 Gift card:

PHOTOS: 2roadtrippers

TOTAL GEOCACHERS: turleladi1020nhubbs

TOTAL LOGS: 6dancer

The raffle item winners were all pleased with their treasures too, but one in particular stood out.  A 3-D printed puzzle box type geocache was made by SLAGA member Team State and won by spiritwolf922. 

Everyone in attendance had a great time and left with smiles on their faces (and some in their geocaching stats), as well as full tummies!  Congratulations to all the potluck and award winners!   Have a cozy rest of the winter and hope to see many more SLAGA members at upcoming events.   

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Written by Terri Nealon

Published: October 27 2025

Last Updated: November 03 2025

Hits: 1003

As the Autumn leaves fell to the ground, so did the raindrops on the cool October 18th SLAGA Fall Picnic day.  However, COs StormRider22 and jray131 along with more than 50 SLAGA members braved the dampness to join together at this Community Celebration Event to enjoy each others' company, some good conversation and caching stories, and delicious food.  Turtleladi1020nhubbs, the SLAGA grill masters for the picnic, had their work cut out for them trying to get the charcoal lit in the downpour at the beginning of the picnic, but thankfully the pop-up canopies and a reprieve from heavy rain made it possible for the brats, burgers, and dogs to be grilled to perfection. The other members rounded out the menu with shared salads, dishes, and more than enough desserts.

After lunch, it was time for some SLAGA business. Announcements were made including introducing the newest 'voted-in' board members, President Michael Smith/cootie_man, Vice President Robert Klemme/Geokid12, Secretary Susan Adams/Treasure Isle, Treasurer John Layman/vorlon40, and Vice President of Training Lee Rouse/Rouseabouts. While members saw mostly familiar faces, Lee was new, and John had switched duties on the board.  Sadly the one face we will miss is our outgoing treasurer Nan Dabler/nan-d1955.  Farewell Nan, and many thanks for your terrific service to SLAGA. 

With the new board now in place, it was time to acknowledge those SLAGA premium members that have achieved significant milestones to date.  At this picnic, every milestone from 100 finds to 25,000 finds had at least one member who received their commemorative coin. 

100 Finds

   
theWifeof      &     Jramsay 

500 Finds

 
GISToddT and DriverMom

1000 Finds

 
SugrSkulz

5000 Finds

 
3nina

10,000 Finds

 
BlueBeadMan

Aunt Dot

25,000Finds  

 
GeoWench

Congratulations to the awesome cachers and their well-earned milestones awards!  Whether it takes months or many years to reach any particular milestone, they are all grand achievements in this wonderful game of geocaching.  For fun at this picnic, any attendee who had achieved 10,000 finds and earned their chair were invited to bring it for a group photo op.  And wow did it turn out to be a fun memorable picture.  

And mentioning this great game of geocaching, the cool rainy weather during the Fall Picnic didn't deter some picnic-going cachers from enjoying a walk along wet slippery trails in this nice park to earn a smiley or a few.  Thanks to everyone for attending, especially on the cold wet picnic day, but geocachers (above all SLAGA cachers) are resilient, fun, and interesting folks who don't let a little rain spoil their chance to get together for an event and a smiley 😃 !  

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Written by Terri Nealon

Published: July 22 2025

Last Updated: July 22 2025

Hits: 1021

More than 45 St. Louis area geocachers attended the SLAGA Summer Picnic this past weekend. As is typical for the weather in SLAGAland, the morning started overcast but already 84*F, then a 15 min downpour briefly cooled the air slightly. After the rain, that miserable Missouri humidity hit and the sun heated the air making the afternoon feel like a sauna, with bugs! Although many picnickers were sweaty and sticky in the latter part of the day, the portable fans set up in the shelter made lunch and gathering a bit more tolerable.  The SLAGA Summer Picnic 2025 and Community Celebration Event was hosted by SWAseeker and was held on July 19th at the beautiful Klondike Park in the shelter adjacent to the lake.  

With over 4 miles of walking trails, a few shelters, a playground and a campground onsite, Klondike park is a must-see place near St. Louis. The lake with its rocky shores and white sandy beach areas was once a silica sand quarry and is popular for catch and release fishing, sunbathing on the shore, and even some non-motor water sports at times, but no swimming or wading is allowed.  The park also offers a visitors and meeting facility and a boat ramp to acces the river.  The park bluff Overlook, above the visitors center, offers views of the Missouri River.  The Katy Trail can be accessed from the park and runs along the river shore down below the Klondike park bluffs. 

The SLAGA "bring your own lunch," meet and greet type summer picnic delivered a fun social atmosphere and beautiful scenery, but also a new 'customizable' milestone/FIND # sign introduced by the SLAGA board.  As simple as it was, this was an enjoyable new addition for geocaching fun.  Speaking of geocaching, five recently published geocaches, by RecklessYeti, had most attendees traversing the park gathering these new smileys too. While the Yeti was not spotted, some think it was in disguise at the picnic.

For all those that came out, including stregazahra and husband who attended their first SLAGA event, the picnic host and SLAGA board extend their many thanks for the time to meet, chat, cache, and picnic with you all.  The next big SLAGA event will be the Fall Picnic usually held in October, so keep a look out for information on that event and plan to attend.  As for now, stay hydrated and as cool as possible in the St. Louis summer sauna, until we meet again. 

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Written by Terri Nealon

Published: April 30 2025

Last Updated: June 10 2025

Hits: 1294

SLAGA Spring Picnic - April 26th, 2025.

This year's Spring picnic was hosted by the Arnold City Mayor and Slaga's own BnD Moritz!  Bill (and Deb) chose a large pavilion at Arnold City Park that had a beautiful view of the lake down the hill, and was conveniently positioned next to a fabulous playground.  More than 40 members and four furry muggles joined in the fun, festivities and fabulous food. 

The picnic was full of activities. Cachers could play Geo-Bingo and the Closest-to-the-Pin games.  There was also a premium member drawing, silent raffle with nice prizes, a 50/50 raffle, and a trackable table for dropping or retrieving travel bugs. SLAGA board members and volunteers were kept busy at this picnic. Secretary Treasure Isle worked the combination registration/lunch fee/game table up front, while VP GeoKid12 sold SLAGA shirts and travel bugs, as well as announced the current milestone winners.  Volunteer Hobbit Taz collected and logged trackables for the upcoming SLAGA Travel Bug Race, and President cootie-man made announcements and called out the winners of various activites. Many thanks to the other volunteers, including those that helped with set-up, clean-up, raffles and games, as well as to all who provided delicious potluck dishes to share.  A special kudos to turleladi1020nhubbs for their grilling efforts, and to Strider for running the Closest-to-the-Pin game.    

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SLAGA milestone awardees this Spring include:

Read more: SPRING IN SLAGA-LAND 2025