When the list of in-person official meet ups for Pokémon GO was announced, one location stood out amongst the many cities announced… Doncaster, UK. Affectionately nicknamed Donny by many Northerners in the UK, Doncaster seemed like a wild card choice for a wild card event, and with it only being an hour long drive from where I live, there was no way I wasn’t going to make the trip and see what it was all about.
The first thing I have to do, is really congratulate the Doncaster community ambassadors and the local community because they truly did an incredible job! They organised the use of the Corn Exchange, a beautiful building which contained the Pokémon pop up area with photo opportunities, giveaways and more. It also offered a warm spot to heat up in the freezing cold, as well as a central meeting point for the community to gather. The day started with pins, postcards and in-game item codes being given away, and the realisation that a whole lot of trainers had also decided to come to Doncaster.
Every few minutes a member of the local community would lead a tour of one of the two official in-game routes, making it easy to make new friends, find a raid group, and not worry about getting lost! The routes themselves varied in length, from one that took you on an epic trail around Doncaster, to another that was shorter but took you on a beautiful route around the Doncaster Minster. Beautiful! The routes themselves seemed to be a great way to encounter Mighty Pokémon, a highlight of the event for sure.
Every volunteer from the community was so approachable, and really did a grand job of showing off their incredible local community. The event felt so warm and welcoming, that even though it was freezing cold, you couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy inside!
I dragged my husband along so I wasn’t travelling solo, and he is a super casual Pokémon GO player, but he really enjoyed the event itself. We shiny hunted, followed routes, chatted to some familiar faces, and met plenty of new ones too. You could easily raid all day long, and it was so cool seeing the Gigantamax lobbies fill up quickly! No expensive remote raiding for us.
I hadn’t visited Doncaster in about 20 years bar travelling through the train station, and it was brilliant to see it thriving. There were plenty of shops, market stalls, street food and more bustling with activity all day. There were even local pubs along the official routes offering discounts to Pokémon GO trainers! The Corn Exchange is positioned next to The Wool Market, which has 10 different street food traders, 3 bars, and a variety of different games you can play. We opted for Peruvian food because we don’t have access to it where we live, and I think we will definitely be making a trip back to Donny to experience more of The Wool Market and its wares.
We met up with YouTuber Ian Waterfall of the Incensed Podcast, who was recording his experience of the event, and J0Beats, who was live streaming most of the day! It was good to see the event being covered by Northern Pokémon GO influencers, truly celebrating this special event.
Doncaster seemed an odd choice at first, most of the time the UK gets events they are in London, or if they venture further North, Manchester or Liverpool. It has some great rail links, yet it isn’t known as a city for adventuring in. But having met the local community and the ambassadors, it was clear why Doncaster had been successful. They are so passionate, and so determined, and put on a brilliant event. I cannot praise them highly enough!
Plenty of shinies were caught, smiles and laughs were had, and despite the cold, we left feeling warm and thrilled to have been a part of the day. Donny community, you did us Northerners proud, and I really hope we get to see more events like this in the future!
