Work Weekend Policies and Guidelines

Who’s in charge during the Work Weekends

Contact us by email: workweekend@fireflyartscollective.org. On site, someone can usually be found around the kiosk near the entrance to the woods.

Signing up for Attendance

You must sign up ahead of time to attend a Work Weekend, and will need to check in upon arrival. If you have not signed up ahead of time and approved to attend, you will be asked to leave the site. The number of Work Weekend volunteer spots is limited, so please make sure you sign up early.

Check the Work Weekend main page for Signup details and link.

Check in when you arrive. Follow the signs across the field and uphill to the entrance to the forest. To the right of the entrance will be a shelter with the clipboard where you can check yourself in.

If you aren’t planning to attend the festival, you can still come to work weekends to help out!

If you can carpool to the site, please do so, because there is limited parking space during Work Weekends. The signup form solicits carpool information.

Work Weekend Getting There

We have limited space for parking on Work Weekends, and if you are on site on Saturday, you’ll need to volunteer for Firefly infrastructure work. If you are visiting exclusively for camp placement on the 2nd Work Weekend, come anytime Sunday morning.

Directions will be emailed after signup and you are approved to attend.

General Policies

If you have any questions about scheduling or what to bring or the best way to do things, ask a Work Weekend core lead! If you’re not sure if you can—or should–do something, please talk to a Work Weekend core lead (or Event lead or Infrastructure Cluster lead) first, so we can help make sure it doesn’t conflict with anything else going on!

• Work weekend hours are 6:00pm Friday until 6:00pm on Sunday
• No pets are allowed at Work Weekends
• Coffee, tea, and snacks are provided in the morning, and lunch is served on Saturday and Sunday
• A  dinner of pizza is typically ordered from a local restaurant on Saturday night
• Camping overnight is encouraged! The campfire is a great way to get to know other Fireflies, and you can get an early start on work the next day
• Camp in the woods, not the field
• Park in the lower parking lot (there will be signs)
• If you have gear which requires driving up the road, coordinate with leads on site to make sure there isn’t a traffic jam, and that nobody gets stuck in the mud
• THOU SHALT NOT drive into the field. People are already busy, and would prefer not to push your truck out of the mud when it gets stuck.  Plus it tears up the wetland areas
• Bug build weekend ends the Saturday before the at sundown (unless the Bug is done first), and there will be no camping on Saturday night until the first day of Firefly

If you don’t plan to camp overnight, please try to arrive early in the day, prepared to do festival work. Work on your own camp work can occur after those tasks has been completed.

1st Work Weekend Tasks

Come prepared to work on communal tasks, such as stick gathering for the Bug, and setting up event infrastructure. No one may work on Theme Camp sites this weekend, because art and theme camp placement has not yet occurred.

2nd Work Weekend Tasks

DPW needs lots of assistance with terraforming, drainage, bridge repairs, and shelter set-up. Gathering sticks for building the Bug continues.

At noon on Sunday, the Art and Theme Camp Placement process begins. Refer to the Placement Guidelines for details. After your Art object or Theme Camp site location has been settled on Sunday, you may clear brush, fly tarps, and begin big theme camp infrastructure work.

3rd Work Weekend Tasks

We finish up DPW projects like terraforming, drainage, and bridge repairs. The Bug builders need help building the Bug’s body, and gathering more sticks for it.

If your camp is placed on previously unoccupied ground which requires more preparation work, please inquire as to how to coordinate with the Work Weekend co-leads to best prepare your camp’s site during this Work Weekend.

Theme camps with large commitments for pre-event setup can erect some infrastructure. This is not intended to replace Early Arrival. Small amounts of equipment can be cached by theme camps (organized, covered with a tarp).

Art which requires more complicated setup (e.g. structures constructed on site, complicated integration with trees) can start erection during this weekend. Artists are encouraged to consider early arrival as well.

Make sure to discuss your infrastructure or art setup with a Work Weekend Lead to make sure it doesn’t cause any problems for other Event Planning and infrastructure!

4th Work Weekend Tasks

The 4th weekend is very close to the opening of the festival, and runs from Friday afternoon through dusk on Saturday. Sunday is not part of this work weekend. You MAY NOT stay on site until the festival starts.

This weekend is much smaller and is intended to complete particular projects which require more time. General-purpose volunteers are not needed. Participants should coordinate with Core leads ahead of time and come prepared to work on a specific project, such as Bug or Temple.

Artists who need extra setup time for their pieces and want to erect art during this weekend, please coordinate with the Work Weekend core leads before arriving.

Depending on the number of attendees, lunch may not be provided during this final weekend.

Personal Infrastructure, Theme Camp Infrastructure, and Art

If you are leaving *any* infrastructure behind between work weekends, please have the object(s) and location approved by a Work Weekend Core Lead or Infrastructure Cluster Lead to make sure it won’t be in the way of events or work occurring during the week. If a dead tree needs to be removed by DPY, we want to know who has their tarp flying there!

For specific guidance on what sorts of camp infrastructure can be set up and when, see the bulleted list on individual weekends below.

Participants intending to return for multiple future work weekends can leave a tent set up, after receiving permission from Work Weekend leadership. Put all personal gear in your tent. Note that it will probably rain during the week; volunteers have come back to find their gear in a puddle inside their tent, or a branch from an overhanging tree through their rainfly.

Personal and theme camp infrastructure which could adversely affect the terrain in the event of rain (tarps draining over trails, objects on the ground which impede the flow of water) shouldn’t be set up between work weekends.

Do not cut live trees during work weekends, or permanently alter the terrain in your camp. DPW is responsible for tree work, drainage ditches, and other lasting modifications to the land.

Work you can do on your theme camp and when

• First Work Weekend: none
• Second Work Weekend: after Placement Brunch, all camps can clear brush and fly tarps (with work weekend co-lead or cluster lead permission)
• Third Work Weekend: Large camps and camps in new areas can clear brush and erect infrastructure (with work weekend co-lead or cluster lead permission)
• Bug Building Weekend: No theme camp work this weekend