Facilities:
Our conference site is rustic and mostly wooded with various dirt roads and paths connecting the camping area and various conference site locations. There are various covered spaces but almost no enclosed spaces (not including the indoor accommodation options which are enclosed spaces). The terrain is rough but easily walkable for people with no mobility issues. People with minor mobility issues will need to be careful but shouldn’t have any trouble. People with moderate to major mobility issues should contact us for more information before deciding to come.
We have showers with hot water, but they are also rustic. We have both outhouses and commercial porta-potties.
There is electricity and there will be a place for you to charge personal electronic devices. Cell reception is decent but sometimes spotty.
What to bring:
- Food: If you are not opting out of the food option by offering a money contribution, please remember to bring snack food or dessert items to share. This can be fruit, juices, or things like trail mixes, nuts, dip for chips (we got a lot of chips already), cookies, brownies, and sweet breads. Please bring around 3 bags, boxes, bottles, or containers of snack or juice items, or a few bunches of fruit, totaling enough to feed about 10 people. Twin Oaks will provide breakfast, lunch and dinner. You will not have to cook for yourself at the conference.
- Outreach literature: Brochures, articles, slideshows, photos, videos, etc. about your community.
- Things to share: You may also want to bring musical instruments (especially drums/percussion instruments for the bonfire), and games.
- Items for the “FREE TABLE” – This is a place where folks can offer up their pre-loved items to become somebody else’s treasure. In the past, people have brought art, CDs, jewelry, toiletries, clothing, books, and anything else you can imagine. Take part in the radical act of sharing by bringing some items that might be useful or of interest to other attendees –no exchange of money involved.
- No pets, please. (Service animals are, of course, welcome.)
- Kids, if you got ’em! Child care will be cooperative; we will arrange space for parents and others to share child care.
What to Expect:
We invite people to get together and talk about intentional community of all sorts. We expect between 100-200 participants including members of many communities: large, small, spiritual, secular, tightly communal, loosely cooperative, and so on. We also welcome people looking for a community, and those just interested in the idea of cooperative living. This conference will be structured, but everything is optional. There will be workshops and sharing circles, but also lots of time to just hang out, meet people, network and play together.
Please do not expect to be able to wander from the Conference site into the community unless you are with a designated tour guide or heading to the Saturday night dance party at the community dining hall. For more information on this, please visit our FAQ page.