“Fire, fire, fire…,” chants the crowd, as a longhaired man wearing bat-print pajama bottoms launches a flaming arrow into the 20-foot tall bonfire. It lights with a loud ka-thump! About then, another lovely fellow wearing a red ball gown and blond wig allows me to take some glamour-shots of him before moving on into the revelry that lasts into the morning hours. And so ends another TAG Fall Cave-In.

Bonfire just after ignition.

The TAG Fall Cave-In derives its name from the region where Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia converge in the southeastern United States. The area is known for limestone karst formations and numerous caves. Each fall for the last 34 years, the event has drawn cavers from across the country for a long weekend of caving and socializing. Outfitters line “Vendor’s Row” offering rappelling gear, artwork and food. Among them is a modest tent manned by the Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc. (SCCi).

In the caving community, the TAG Fall-In is recognized as a great party, but its attendees are also very generous. At the 2009 event, cavers donated $41,000 to the SCCi during the four-day event, not bad for just more than a 1000 muddy, drinking, hot-tub-dipping people who crawled out from under a rock.

“…SCCi is basically the only organization I’m willing to give my money to anymore,” is something I have heard repeatedly around the TAG campfire. What drives (notoriously cheap) cavers to give so generously? Neither caves, nor bats, get much recognition or help from other charities, yet cavers see the effects of pollution and vandalism inside the caves. But the level of commitment TAG cavers show SCCi is still extraordinary. During the 2010 TAG Fall Cave-In, I made it my mission to understand the synergy between them. [Read more...]