Upcoming poly events for the next four months

Not many of you seem to know about Alan's List of Polyamory Events. There I describe all 20 major poly conferences and gatherings for the next 12 months. Nine are coming up in just the next four months. Here they are:


● Endless Poly Summer
August 20–24, 2014
Abrams Creek Campground and Conference Center, Mount Storm, WV

Michael Rios, Sarah Taub, and friends, who organize the Network for a New Culture Summer Camp East each July, are starting an ambitious new project. Endless Poly Summer aims to build, over five days, an enduring network of like-minded people who don't fall out of touch as happens after most events. (That's the "endless" part.) "The point is building tribe," says Michael. I've gone to their (mostly poly) Summer Camp for the last five years, and can attest that New Culture's practices for community creation and interpersonal-skills development are exactly right for this. Michael and Sarah have a vision of "turning Abrams Creek into a place where tribe is created" around any number of interests and commonalities. "If you can start creating overlapping tribes all over the place, you can have a very strong social impact."

From the website: "Here is where you can meet other poly people at a deeper level, learn the skills needed to handle your relationships, and become a part of a supportive network of people who share your relationship values.... Spend up to 5 days in a rustic woods-and-water setting, hang out around a bonfire, enjoy a song circle, cuddle up at a snuggle party, learn to take your relationships to the next level, and build connections with others that last all year long! At Endless Poly Summer, we invite top-notch presenters, and live, work, learn and play together for up to 5 days or more."


● At Burning Man
Aug. 25 – Sept. 1, 2014
Nevada desert
(Note: You cannot get into Burning Man without a ticket that's legitimate by Burning Man's anti-scalper rules. Beware of ticket scams.

Poly Paradise theme camp.
Poly Paradise will be in its 16th year in 2014. Since 2012 it has been awarded prime central locations on the A or B rings; in 2014 it will be on the B ring at azimuth 4:15. This is a large theme camp; in 2012 it was 200 x 600 feet and had 170 campers. In 2013 it had 183, almost half of them new. Workshops and events will include Heart of Now, Poly High Tea, the famous Human Carcass Wash, the Hiney Hygiene Station, Mind Melt, Revolutionary Honesty, and a poly mixer. Benevolent Dictator Scotto writes, "PolyParadise 2013 was the truly the best Theme Camp iteration we have ever created. Each year there are many challenges and together we overcome, together we build an amazing space within the gates of BRC, a place to really call home in the desert."


● Polycamp Northwest
Aug. 29 – Sept. 1, 2014
Olympia, WA area

This big, multi-day, kid- and family-friendly campout is now in its 13th year, held in a reserved area of cabins and common buildings in a state park. Workshops, hikes, canoeing, singing, dance, games from Calvinball to frisbee golf. Adults-only workshops/discussions take place in their own separate area. Polycamp NW has been getting 150 to 200 people. Facebook page (which is more active than the website). See newspaper article about Polycamp by Dan Savage from 2010.

Organizer Quintus writes, "We also do three other events each year:
— Post Polycamp Party
— Room Party at Norwescon (sci-fi convention)
— Polystrip (fundraiser for Polycamp; burlesque by members of the poly community)


● Loving More Retreat
September 5–7, 2014
Easton Mountain Retreat Center, north of Albany, NY

A smallish rural gathering of fellowship and workshops. Navigating poly life both for beginners and long-timers; building intimate community. Beautiful rural setting, hot tubbing, pool, fun, stars. Clothing optional (though not many go bare except around the hot tub, sauna, and pool). Intimate crowd, newbie-friendly, typical attendance 30 or so. Here's a FAQ. See last year's schedule. I've come to this since 2005. Loving More, "supporting polyamory and relationship choice since 1985," is the oldest poly organization of the modern era and played a central role in getting the whole movement going.


● Großen Polytreffen, Autumn (Germany)
October 8–11, 2014
"Im Seminarhotel Gut Frohberg"

Since 2008 the German organization PolyAmores Netzwerk (PAN) e.V., at Polyamory.de, has organized local meetings and, in the spring and fall, "Grand Poly Meetings" that draw 50 to 120 people — "for contacts, networking, and planning the organization of activities. At the large meetings, up to 40 workshops, talks and other events are self-organized by participants." In 2013 the fall meeting sold out.


● Poly Palooza
October 9–13, 2014 (Columbus Day weekend)
Desert Hot Springs, CA



This will be the second year for this event (under this name). It will be held at the same resort hotel in Desert Hot Springs as in 2013. Kamala Devi and other members of the San Diego poly/tantra community invite you to "a 4-day groundbreaking retreat where you will experience intimate connections with families that have vast experience successfully navigating complex polyamorous relationships. We are offering radical tools and transformative practices to access your full erotic expression within an immersive community where we dance, play, soak, study, work, eat, sleep and awaken together! You will develop deep friendships that will inspire and support you for a lifetime.

"Why? We are co-creating an experience of paradise to role-model revolutionary new expressions of unconditional love and sexual liberation. By exploring these paradigm shifts we intend to transform our own lives as well as the future of humanity."


● OpenCon 2014
October 10–12, 2014
Dorset, U.K.

OpenCon in the U.K. is a participant-created convention on the unconference model, which means the people who show up organize the content. This will be its fifth year. The first four sold out; attendance in 2012 was 87. "A 3-day event in the English countryside for everyone who knows that happy and honest relationships don't have to be monogamous. OpenCon combines discussions, workshops and socialising to give you a chance to meet like-minded people, to build our community and to celebrate its diversity."

The team putting it together in 2013 told us, "This year we're not running a gender balancing policy as they did last year, but our explicitly feminist ethos, and actions to increase accessibility of the event, (which you can read more about on dedicated Ethos and Access pages on the website) have resulted in our current attendees' gender profile being very well balanced."

Here are the self-generated schedule boards from 2011: 1, 2, 3, 4. This is how an unconference works. "We had 33 workshops run, only 5 of which had been arranged in advance."


● Playground 2014
November 7–9, 2014
Toronto, Canada.

Entering its fourth year, poly and nonmonogamy author Samantha Fraser's Playground conference "will bring together the brightest minds in sexuality education, activism and media to examine the ways in which the sexual and erotic play a part in our everyday lives. Everyone is invited to attend from those looking to educate to those looking to get educated. And most importantly, for everyone looking to have FUN! Over the 3 days, workshops and presentations will touch on kink, non-monogamy, dating, sexual/relationship fulfillment and more. Playground is an all-inclusive event for every community to take part in and celebrate diversity."


● Beyond the Love
November 7–9, 2014
Columbus, Ohio.

This new hotel conference had a very successful start in November 2013, with a reported 200 people attending. "Beyond The Love’s mission is to provide an opportunity for the polyamorous community to come together in an educational and social forum. At Beyond the Love you will find a wealth of classes, workshops and mini events to learn tools, techniques and communication skills to enhance our poly relationships. We provide a safe environment for meeting with other like-minded people in a supportive and inclusive community. We are passionate about recognizing poly as a relationship choice and sharing common experiences on our many different paths."

Here are some workshop presenters so far. I'll be there running a session called "Poly Awareness Activism: Strategies and Tactics." There will be other attendee-generated unconference sessions, poly matchmaking, a Midwest poly leadership summit, massage, yoga, and a masquerade ball. Over 18 only. Facebook page.

To be continued. Please spread this page.

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P.S.: Here's how to do a thorough search for your local poly group(s) and their get-togethers.

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