Hello Huggy and welcome to the other side of GPS gaming.
It has been my experience that most Waymarkers just use the "Posts I have not read" linky
http://portal.groundspeak.com/forums/TopicsNotRead.aspx
Which explains why some guy from Ontario Canada is replying to you. Although I have had very minimal success attracting locals away from that other GPS game (or at least adding it as another activity), likely the best way is to make some Waymarks that you are proud of (based on your comment that there are lots of good things in your town) and at local Geocaching events, maybe bring some pictures of your listings...
I've tried explaining that it is more fun to get an icon that represents what you've seen compared to a 'ghostie'. To me, Virtuals use a ghost cause they are dead and just don't know it yet.
Maybe someday the Irish Brothers will state that all non-container items will be mass-archived in Geocaching and that the owners should move them to Waymarking... but eventually every player will have no more Virtuals to find and will hopefully have a taste of the good life here in Waymarking!
Aren't you that fountain-fan? {kidding}
BQ