Welcome To Fall Fest - What to Expect

You’ve travelled hundreds or even thousands of miles, across rocky mountains and prairies and even a lake or two,  and made your way to beautiful Burford  Ontario in anticipation of Fall Fest 2025! What will you find when you arrive?

There are two ways in, and two ways out. One is for day parking, one is for camping. Choose your gate wisely.  To simplify traffic control, we consolidate all the ins and outs for general parking and VIP parking (basically, any parking that isn’t overnight) to the SOUTH gate (approximate coordinates N 43 05.916 W 080 25.492) and all the ins and outs for camping to the NORTH gate (approximate coordinate N 43 06.082 W 080 25.570).  The main gate (that’s the one in the middle, where the adventure lab and posted coordinates for the event are) IS NOT OPEN TO VEHICULAR TRAFFIC (except for emergency vehicles).  Simply put, the only way between parking and camping is the road between the two gates. You cannot drive around the track between camping and parking! Therefore, if you go in the wrong gate, a giant knight will pop up and say “you chose poorly” as you drive back out and to the other gate (not really, but now you’re thinking about what a cool cache that would be! Ohhhh, foreshadowing…)

If you arrive at a decent hour, from approximately 9am - 7pm - you’ll likely find the Camping Registration tent manned as you pull down the camping driveway.  These people are volunteers, please be nice to them. They will have some swag for you, a hang tag to put on your rear view mirror, and can help you find your campsite.  Volunteers are NOT going to be at the registration tent 24 hours a day, so you have 2 options. Option a) come back to get your free stuff when volunteers are on duty or option b) swing by site A1 and see if the Camping Marshall is around to help you (although he is also a volunteer and needs to sleep, eat and shower like the rest of us. Again, please be nice).  If you arrive and no one is on duty, you should be able to find your way around until a volunteer is available, and if you’re REALLY stuck, find anyone in a green EVENT MOUNTIE shirt for help.  If you plan on arriving after 7pm, please plan on being self sufficient until morning. DO NOT WAKE UP THE CAMPING MARSHALL AT 2AM JUST TO GET YOUR FREE STUFF!! It can wait until morning.

What if I don’t want a vehicle pass for my car? Trust us, you’re going to want that vehicle tag. Each vehicle tag is numbered. Each of those numbers is going into a draw. You like free stuff? Of course you do… and that’s why you want a vehicle tag. 

If you arrive "after hours" you will likely be on your own until morning… but not really, because there will be Green shirts wandering around pretty much all day and night, and lots of other campers milling around as well.   The website has a map for your reference.  Remember - find the flag with your campsite number and then set up to the right of the flag. Once you arrive, feel free to set up, and then start checking out all of the cool activities we have on site. As of late January, caches for the event will begin to publish, so you could go find some of the 3500+ caches within 20 miles of event HQ, or you could stay on site and join the group campfire in the derby ring, or complete a nearby adventure lab (or 250).  There are plenty of scheduled activities, but also a lot of cache finding excursions, puzzle solving sessions, and even marshmallow roasting competitions that are organized by groups of cachers - talk to people, find out what they’re doing, and make your plans accordingly.

No one bites. At least not in public…Whether you’re coming from 20 minutes up the road or across the continent, there’s no point in being shy, because you’re going to see the same people every day for the next 4-5 days.  We don’t think anyone bites, but if you're worried - find someone with a green EVENT MOUNTIE shirt to say hello to first.  We screened them, and unless they are running low on caffeine, they’re usually pretty chill (except for Pasha88… but she does accept Pathtags as peace offerings…). 

The Registration Table, Event Store, Prize Table, Volunteer Sign In, VIP snack/drink station, and Will-Call Pick Up are all located in Lion’s Building. That means it’s going to get busy, and lines may be long, especially on Thursday morning. We apologize in advance. You only need to visit the registration table if you did NOT pre-order a swag package through our Square site. If you pre-ordered a registration package (even the Canuck for a Day free package) it will be available for you at the Will-Call pickup and you can skip the registration line altogether. Lion’s is the building closest to the main gate, aka the smaller of the two buildings. 

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE pre-register for the event. This makes life so much easier for everyone involved! Seriously, unless you want to waste half a day standing in line, do as much pre-registration online as you can. You’re going to want to check out pretty much the entire website as well, looking for easter eggs… have you found any yet? They’re going to come in handy at the event!  

Please make an effort to pick up your stuff from the store, or have someone pick it up on your behalf. After this last round of Canada Post strikes, we really don’t want to have to rely on them for anything. Remember, with a note or your receipt, you can have a friend pick it up for you.  If you did not pre-order stuff and are interested in getting some, we only order a little more than we need for pre-sales to sell at the event, usually just enough to fulfill our minimum orders for items. If you want a specific item, or a specific size (especially big or tall sizes) the best thing to do is pre-order so we can have these ready to go for you. 

Now, go have some fun! Just like every other caching event, the goal is to have a GREAT time. Whether you’re a hardcore cacher with 50,000 finds looking for challenges or numbers, a DT Grid chaser looping for the next loop, an Adventure Lab aficionado looking for some cool adventure labs to complete, or you’ve been dragged here by a geocache-loving spouse and you’re here (on your anniversary weekend, of all things!!) to be supportive and prevent a divorce, we hope you can find something to enjoy at Fall Fest 2025. As long as we keep all the motorized vehicles off the ATV  track, feel free to explore the grounds, find some caches, and chat with your new best friends. Welcome to Fall Fest.