A few days ago we watched a documentary about the Sturgis motorcycle rally and I was struck that over 500,000 people hit the town over a week's time. A lot of those guys and girls were sporting heavy jewelry and I wondered how much of it got left behind. Gobs of the visitors stay in parks and campgrounds and with everybody on the move all the time it seems likely that more than a few would have lost something. Has anybody here followed crowds like those at Sturgis or other venues, like rock concerts etc, specifically looking for left behind jewelry. It almost seems like it could be an inland version of beach hunting where replenishment occurs on a regular basis.
There is a small park here with bandstand where there are performances every couple of weeks in summer. Lots of people dancing, sitting on blankets. etc. Seems like it could be a decent source of lost rings and chains, but it is a new park and I've never seen an MDer there. The city manager has given me the OK to look if I can ever get out again.
I'd be all over that site if I was near the area.
Bad part is that the pulltabs and bottle caps have got to be severe
It would be cool to detect Sturgis , but hundreds of miles makes me unlikely to. I agree the pull tabs and bottle caps would be everywhere.
Your park with the bandstand sounds like something I would put right at the top of my list of sites.
I have hit the area in a local park near the bandstand (several local events every summer) , they also have a yearly festival there , it is like a beach , it gets replenished regularly , but mostly just with clad , pull tabs and junk jewelry. It is usually a fun hunt even though it gets regularly detected.
I hope you get a chance to get out and that you do as well as you hope.
Pat
Sounds like a great place to hunt Shade! I'd be on it like white on rice! Another venue all you guys might consider is fourth of July gatherings for fireworks. That draws tons of people to the same places every year.
Ed
There used to be a biker rally held not far from here they called "Fire and Ice" in a little town called Grants. I detected the site once ,,,pretty disappointing.
That city uses treated effluent to water the grass in the parks and you could tell which made me think about what I was knelling in not to mention the the loogies and floogies those bikers deposited while they were guzzling their brew. Liable to have a clad dime , mono , the clap , hep C and the flu in the same hole. The town finally got wise after 15 years and realized it wasn't worth the hassle to attract that element into their homes and stopped the rallies. Out of the 15,000 residents I think two objected.
That is a massive crowd for sure and it happens every year. You might have something there, pretty cool idea
That's a pretty vivid image of the effluent watered park and the less than careful bikers! Bio hazard suits for detecting gear? Farmers here used to spread the dried effluent on their fields as cheap fertilizer --- you didn't want to be downwind too long. And I read a few books on the motorcycle gangs which seemed to indicate that personal hygiene wasn't always a priority.
Sounds like fun and a great place to detect just think of the pull tab and bottle cap collection you will have when done.
What have you got to lose? Even better, you were given permission
Go try it for a few hours and see if anything turns up. I'm sure you can pull up a few interesting items, Shade