Dear Mappy Community

Dear Mappy Hour Community,

Everything has a season. A beautiful cycle of birth, growth and, ultimately, an end. It is through this lens I share the bittersweet news that Mappy Hour is shutting down this year. 

We started hosting events in March of 2014 in New York City. Our goal at the very beginning was simply to create a space for people who loved nature and outdoor recreation to come together. In a city where loud, expensive happy hours were culturally dominant, it felt refreshing to be surrounded by other people willing to get up early on a Saturday and go through the sometimes tedious process of shleping out to a hiking trail.

Our first event was silly and surprising, the New York Times mentioned us, someone brought outdoor-themed temporary tattoos, and a man who mapped every single tree in Central Park rolled in with one of the most incredible maps I’ve personally ever seen. We even kicked off our name tag station at this event – encouraging folks to share an ‘ask’ and a ‘tell” – based on the belief that everyone has something valuable to share.

And they did! From this very first event, it was evident that our community, together, had an incredible amount of energy, excitement and knowledge to share, whether from a surf festival in Queens to an epic backpacking adventure in Yosemite (and everything in between).

Mappy Hour, ultimately, became a container for this community. People from other cities started to step up and establish chapters, local leaders volunteered to share a story or teach a workshop and all of you kept showing up, month after month, year after year. Soon my role morphed from organizing events to making sure an incredible team of leaders across the country had the resources they needed to create experiences that spoke to each city’s local needs. These leaders (listed below!) not only crafted and nurtured the local experience but joined leadership calls monthly to provide feedback and guidance for the organization as a whole, helping it evolve and grow every single year. Even during COVID, when we couldn’t physically be together, thousands of you logged in to say hello, to continue to connect in a time of deep isolation. 

In cities across the United States, our members (all of you lovely people!) brought an incredible amount of energy, curiosity and willingness to share to Mappy Hour. We have had a huge amount of first timers at Mappy Hours and at every event there were folks with experience and expertise willing to share with their peers. Yes, we had speakers and programming to support this – but the piece that I’m most proud of is the members that joined this community and dove in to help make the outdoors more accessible to their neighbors and new friends. It has been an incredible gift to be surrounded by such enthusiastic and generous people on a monthly basis for the last ten years. 

We’ve also made inroads on a larger scale in our cities. While changing culture is a monumental challenge, Mappy Hour has been at the center of outdoor community in all of our hubs. Since 2014, we’ve seen more and more amazing organizations launch and grow to support urban dwellers getting outside. This is one of the reasons I find the end to the Mappy Hour story hopeful. There are now many other groups and organizations that can provide a home for all of us. Though not exactly Mappy Hour – each has their own recipe for delectable outdoor community. 

I feel so lucky to have enjoyed so many incredible years of this organization and am excited to share a few stats and some of my favorite testimonials. 

By the Numbers:

• Over the years, we’ve hosted 641 outdoor inspired events 
• 26,000 individuals attended and participated 
• We donated over $16,000 to our non-profit partners in cities across the country
• We went to 20 cities across the U.S. (and even bopped over to Calgary!) 

A few lovely words from members:

““The most fun I have had with strangers. I laughed so hard I cried.”

“I have an incredible amount of love for Mappy Hour from day one! After 5 years, I still seem to always walk away from each event with either a plan for new adventure or a few new friends!”

“You deserve a HOOOOO’YAAAH!”

“”I am so grateful for Mappy Hour. This was more than just a group of outdoorsy New Yorkers meeting at a sick outdoorsy shop … you facilitated a gathering that, for me, fostered a new friendship””

“This was the best weekend of my year.”

“I love Mappy Hour!”

More Memories

Let’s close this era out with a bang! If you have Mappy memories, I would be honored if you’d post them on instagram with the tag #mappyhour or by email (sarah@outdoorfest.com) so I can share on our site. While we’ll be shutting down the main site, our blog will stay alive as a testament to the best crew ever! 

We also created a short FAQ addressing logistics including what happens next in active chapters. Read it here. 

And finally, Mappy Hour is what it is because of our amazing team. Below are the individuals who stepped up to lead chapters, facilitate connection and ensure there were more outdoor opportunities in their cities.

Thank you all (and all of the other volunteers, photographers, set-up helpers, guides and experts who helped bring each event together!)

Live in the city, love the outdoors,

Sarah

P.S. I’d love to stay connected! Follow me for personal adventures on instagram and professional adventures on Linked-In.