A call to the grotto: host a pub night

The NRMG is back, and we need YOU to make it happen.

What's a pub night?

Cavers and cave-curious people at a bar, a brewery or a pizza place, on a set night. No agenda, no slideshow, no dues. You show up, grab a drink or some food, and talk caves: the trip you just got back from, the lead that's been bugging you, the photos on your phone, the gear you're thinking about buying. Members bring friends. Anyone who's ever wondered what's down there is welcome.

Why it works

Here's what we've found: when cavers hang out and talk about caves, more caving happens. Somebody mentions a lead, somebody else has a free weekend, and by the end of the night there's a trip on the calendar. New people meet the folks who lead trips and get asked along. That's how most grotto trips have always started, and it's how a grotto grows.

It's not just us. The Alberta Speleological Society says its informal pub nights are where "most of the club caving activities are planned." Clubs and volunteer groups keep finding the same thing: people stick around when they've got friends there.

How to host one

• Pick a place. A bar, a brewery or a pizza place with food, something non-alcoholic on the menu, and a table big enough to pass photos around.
• Pick a night, and keep it. Same night, same place, every month if you can. People come back when they know where to find you.
• Put it on the calendar at nrmg.org/submit-your-event. We'll get the word out to the members' list and in NRMG News. Not a member yet? Write to [email protected] and we'll put it up for you.
• Say hi to new people. Introduce them around, and point them at whoever's leading the next trip.
• Talk caves. Bring photos, bring a lead, bring the trip you've been meaning to plan. Need a conversation starter? Put on one of the grotto's remastered talks from nrmg.org/talks. Just keep cave locations off the event page and out of anything posted online; save those for the trip itself.

The bigger plan

Pub nights are part of a bigger plan: bringing the whole grotto back, well beyond the Bighorn–Horsethief Survey Project. Bighorn–Horsethief is where the grotto is busiest right now, and it's going great. But a grotto is more than one project. It's every caver in Montana and northern Wyoming who hasn't been underground in a while and would go if somebody asked.

Pub nights used to happen in Whitefish, Missoula, Bozeman and Billings. Let's get them going again, in as many towns as we can. Host one. Bring a friend. See you there.