{This article was written by Laurie and John Elfrank and submitted here on their behalf with some minor additions and editing.}
Geocaching is a community driven game, and it relies on the support of more than 400 community volunteers. The volunteers are a diverse and dedicated group from over 35 countries who give their time to translate content, moderate forums and review cache pages on behalf of the global geocaching community. Community volunteers are required to adhere to Geocaching HQ’s guidelines and are said to “Obey the Frog” (Signal the FROG is the geocaching.com’s mascot).
In the early 2000s, Groundspeak hosted a reviewer event, and it was called Obey, as in "Obey the Frog." But as the number of volunteers grew, HQ stopped hosting the event, and instead let the volunteers take over hosting in different cities. In North America, they changed the name to (Dis)Obey.
In June 2024, around 30 community volunteers descended upon St. Louis for their annual multi-day gathering in North America, hosted by Missouri reviewer MrHarmonica. Attendees included community volunteers from all over the U.S. and Canada, one from Germany, their families, and a Lackey WatermanHQ (a Geocaching HQ employee from Seattle). They started arriving on June 19, and spent the next four days enjoying activities that appealed to the volunteers and families. MrHarmonica’s schedule included a guided tour of Bellefontaine Cemetery, mini golf at Swing-A-Round Fun Town, a hike at West Tyson County Park, an evening at Breakout Games escape rooms, a tour of St. Louis craft breweries, and time sampling the local cuisine.
Saturday was reserved for everyone to enjoy local sights on their own. Many went to the top of the Arch, visited the zoo, took a riverboat cruise, visited the National Museum of Transportation or went to a Cardinals baseball game. Attendees also spent time hunting down highly favorited caches and doing Adventure Labs in the area.
(Dis)Obey concluded on Sunday, June 23, with a Meet the Volunteers geocaching event held at Cliff Cave Park. Over 30 local geocachers stopped by to chat with the many reviewers and Lackey and exchange travel and caching stories. SLAGA cachers were surprised upon arrival to see Mongo nametags all over the place! They have always hoped to meet the elusive reviewer, but now there were multiple to choose from. Denmother gleefully said, when submitting the above picture, "I am supposed to tell everyone that Mongo may or may not be in the picture, LOL."
Before hitting the road to depart St. Louis, several of the reviewers traveling solo commented that they would like to visit St. Louis again and bring their families along to enjoy the many sights of our great city. Some commented on the unseasonably warm weather, but all appreciated the sheltered final event venue and beautiful scenery of Cliff Cave Park and cooler breezes that blew over the mightly Mississippi River occasionally.
Excerpts from the event page logs included one from the real Mongo. His/Her log reads:
Mongo made it back to Mongo's ranch at Rock Ridge. Mongo had a long hard ride and Mongo's bull kept getting tired along the way. Mongo enjoyed meeting all of the other Mongos at this event.
Many thanks to the event organizers for putting on this here get-together.
"......Mongo only pawn in game of geocaching."
Mongo says, "don't put cache where choo choo goes".
MrHarmonica's event log states, "I was glad for the nice day and nice breeze. We made new friends this week and also enjoyed being with the old friends from the past." He thanked the many volunteers and Lackey and commented that he "believes everyone now has a different idea of how things are from the state that was home to Jed and Ellie Mae Clampett."
All in attendance were grateful for the many DisObey activities and the fun final event, as well as the hosting efforts of LFrank/MrHarmonica and Denmother.
Photos from Meet The Volunteers Event (GCAJZ25)
