Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest (formerly Pupfest)

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Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest (formerly Pupfest)

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Jul 6, 2012 3:58 pm

The annual auction & party for the Sewanee Mountain Grotto held on Labor Day weekend. This is our 10th year and as usual there will be cave trips, float trips, an auction and a pot luck dinner. Event starts August 31st (however you can arrive early on the 30th) and goes thru September 3rd. The event is held at Maureen Handler's property aka Caver's Paradise. Address is 900 Old Sewanee Road, Sewanee, TN 37375.

We do not charge a registration fee but we do ask for a $5 fee per person for camping for the entire weekend, bring a dish for the potluck dinner on Sunday and donate something to the auction. Your auction donation should be caving or camping releated but does not have to be new. Be creative!

Friday night we will be showing a caving movie of some sort with POPCORN (last year we showed "Cave Women to the Rescue"). Saturday night is the annual Bat Float to Nickajack Cave and there will be music and a fire and Sunday is the Potluck and Auction. And of course we will have our Sewanee Mountain Mugs again this year for BEER, which includes brew from our guys with the TAG Brewery. For $10 you get beer all weekend!

All of the proceeds from our event go back into the caving community...!

We have also already received donations for our annual fundraising auction from: Inner Mountain Outfitters, Petzl, NSS Bookstore, Keson, Eagle's Nest Outfitters, Ruby Falls, Chattanooga Nature Center, TN Valley Railroad, Brunton Outdoor, CMI, Lodge and more...!

For more details you can view our event at http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/299738240109431/.
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Re: Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest (formerly Pupfest)

Postby tncaver » Jul 6, 2012 7:28 pm

Does a caver have to be an NSS member to attend?
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Re: Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest (formerly Pupfest)

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Jul 7, 2012 9:05 am

tncaver wrote:Does a caver have to be an NSS member to attend?


Nope. No requirements here ;)
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Primary Grotto Affiliation: Sewanee Mountain Grotto
  

Re: Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest (formerly Pupfest)

Postby tncaver » Jul 12, 2012 8:44 am

UnderGroundEarth wrote:
tncaver wrote:Does a caver have to be an NSS member to attend?


Nope. No requirements here ;)


Sounds like your grotto has come up with an excellent way to introduce newbies to caving and attract them to join the caving community and
the NSS. They don't have to join the NSS to come check out a real caving event. Most events are now requiring NSS membership. Those events may be losing an opportunity to host new cavers who have not decided whether or not they want to join the NSS. Also, newbies are the most likely attendees to buy equipment from vendors. This sounds like a win win decision by your grotto. :kewl:
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Re: Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest (formerly Pupfest)

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Jul 12, 2012 9:24 am

Actually, we do not have vendors at our event. Since our goal is to raise funds for the caving community we have one of the best caving auctions around during the event on Sunday night. The auction is a highlight of the event. Since there is no "registration fee" we instead ask that all attendees donate an item (camping or caving related) and we also obtain donations from Vendors. All items are then auctioned off. Last year we were able to raise nearly $5,000. This year I have been hard at work and have already received donations from: Inner Mountain Outfitters, Karst Sports, Petzl, The NSS Bookstore, Keson, Brunton Outdoors, CMI, Eagle's Nest Outfitters, Lodge, Chattanooga Aboretum & Nature Center, The Tennessee Valley Railroad, Ruby Falls, JK3, Carolina Shrewsbury, and more...! A lot of these donations are caving gear such as ascenders, racks, packs, etc...

All of the money raised during our event goes back into the caving community to further conservation, survey, and exploration. We always donate some of the proceeds to the SCCi and the NSS. We also use the money to purchase supplies for cleanups with the SERA Karst Task Force (SKTF) and survey equipment for the grotto.

I actually found the Sewanee Mountain Grotto in 2009 by attending this event. I was so moved by what they were doing for the caving community I started attending their meetings the following month. Since then i've helped on numerous cleanups and survey projects. The SMG is a great bunch of cavers, old & new, who do a lot for the community and this event is a great way to support the hard work of the SMG.
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UnderGroundEarth
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Primary Grotto Affiliation: Sewanee Mountain Grotto
  

Re: Sewanee Mountain Cave Fest (formerly Pupfest)

Postby UnderGroundEarth » Jul 12, 2012 5:29 pm

I received another donation today for the auction. A 54 quart stainless steel belted cooler from COLEMAN. Retail value $159.99. Thank you Coleman.


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User avatar
UnderGroundEarth
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 537
Joined: May 17, 2006 3:39 pm
Location: Jasper, Tennessee
Name: Kelly Smallwood
NSS #: 58745 RL,FE
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Sewanee Mountain Grotto
  


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