Theme Camp FAQ

How do I start a Theme Camp?

Theme camps are an amazing gift to the community. Most start out as a fun idea between friends, sometimes as a joke and slowly build into greatness. If you have a neat idea and the drive to make it go- grab some friends and run with it and don’t forget to have fun!

Why should I register my Theme Camp?

Register your theme camp to be on the map. So your friends can find you. So the friends you haven’t met yet can find you. So you know that you can count on the space you registered for being there, reserved for you and yours. So you can request placement that fits with your needs and desires. Register so we can make sure you have the best theme camp information out there. Amplified sound, in a theme camp or not, always must be registered, so if you were looking to play some music or give a show, this will save everyone grief later.

How do I register a Theme Camp?

Theme Camp registration will open March 15th and close promptly at 11:59 p.m. April 17th, 2023. Go to https://secure.burningflipside.com/register/ to register your theme camp (you have to be signed in to register).

Do I really need to complete everything on the Registration?

YES, please. To the best of your ability. The more we know, the more we can help you, the more you can help yourself. Pretty please with bacon on top, don’t assume we know anything about your camp, even if you’ve been a staple for 10 years and haven’t changed, our volunteers change every year.

What is a Village?

When a mommy theme camp and a daddy theme camp love each other very much, they get together to share camp resources, infrastructure, and location and gather children theme camps to them to help raise them into full theme camps. Of course, in the Burning Flipside Community all family forms are welcome, so if you have seven mommy theme camps or twenty three children and a creepy uncle theme camps, City Planning will work with you to make sure that your village gets what it needs (which, for reference, is limited to “being placed together” in the city, y’all have to do the rest of the work). Once you work out your village details, please mention it in the notes to your theme camp registration. Remember, theme camp registration ends at 11:59 p.m. on April 1st.

I want my camp next to my best friend’s camp, but their camp is totally unrelated and we will not be sharing resources, is a village for me?

No. That’s more of a bromance than a village. If you want your camp near another camp, but don’t plan to operate as a village, you can request to be near another camp, and we will do our best to keep bromance camps within hop-skip-and-jump distance, if not spitting distance. Our goal is to make Pyropolis fit well on the land we have, and some flexibility on your part will help us make the city as awesome as possible.

Oh No, I missed the deadline for theme camp registration- What should I do?!?!

Please contact our Theme Camp Liaison.

My Theme Camp information has changed after the deadline, what should I do?!

If there have been big changes (your numbers suddenly increased, or decreased, you are now bringing a circus tent, your theme camp fell apart and no longer needs the space, etc.) please please please let City Planning know as soon as possible so we can work with you to the best of our ability. Please contact our Theme Camp Liaison.

What is Early Arrival?

Early Arrival (arriving Wednesday afternoon, after 4pm) may be available for theme camps that have large infrastructure that requires additional time or space to unload, extra space for heavy machinery, or to set the foundation for large infrastructure like a power grid.  Our highly qualified City Planning team weighs the needs of theme camps, the needs of the event, and the safety of all participants to determine if and to what extent early arrival is offered to theme camps.

Why do some camps get offered early arrival?

We all want everyone’s arrival at Flipside to be safe, smooth and quick and easy, and that means once the event opens, our roads need to flow and camps need to let their campers unload and move their vehicles to parking as soon as possible.  When a camp has something that will prevent that from happening, we do our best to minimize the impact on the event be trying to get that to happen Wednesday evening instead of Thursday morning.  Historical examples include:

  • When camps have large trucks or trailers that require additional space to unload, that slows down the whole process for everyone.  
  • Closing roads for a safety perimeter for the use of heavy machinery.
  • When a village needs to run power to their affiliated camps before their camps set up tents or infrastructure, that prevents campers in those camps from unloading and getting their cars to parking quickly.  

Only you can help us prevent the issue of: when something we haven’t considered has repercussions we haven’t thought of and slows the whole process down.  If your camp is going to do some crazy and awesome thing that may gunk up the Thursday morning gears, let us know and we’ll do our best to goo-be-gone your gunky gears.

So my WHOLE CAMP can arrive on Wednesday?

No.  Nein, nope, nada.  No sirree.  Etc.  We will review your request and, based on the amount of work that is needed, we will provide you with a maximum headcount for early arrival.  The maximum headcount includes spouses and SOs, so consider that when you plan your early arrival crew.

Why are you so mean about early arrival head counts?

Every additional person that needs to come for early arrival is additional infrastructure and volunteers that need to be in place by the time early arrival campers arrive.  When requesting early arrival in your theme camp registration, please keep our poor volunteers in mind.

Yay more time to party!

That’s not a question, and it’s also not an option.  Everyone that is at Flipside prior to gate opening on Thursday is there to work to make the Burning Flipside event run smoothly, including theme camp early arrival.  If you finish your work early, and feel the urge to party coming over you, please check in with some other camps or event volunteers and see if they need help.  Or get some needed rest, so you can start to party on time, Thursday, 9:00 a.m. FLIPSIDE DOES NOT START UNTIL THE GATES OPEN THURSDAY. That means no amplified sound and you has to keep your clothes on, hippie.

Burning Man does it differently.  Why aren’t we exactly like Burning Man (or other burn event)?

Who are you and how did you get in here?  Shoo!  Shoo!!

I heard a rumor about an RV Camping area.  What’s up with that?  How do I get in?

Resources permitting, space will be set aside for RV-specific camping for RV campers that really want to be at Burning Flipside, but don’t want to be there forever because their RV is stuck in the mud.  RV Camping is placed on the land in a location notorious for not flooding.  We even have it laid out so that you don’t have to drive through the city’s tight corners and low hanging branches to get to the RV Camping area.  You get in by bringing an RV to Flipside, asking where RV camping is, and driving there in your RV.  Placement is first come-first serve.

I have an RV and want to Camp with my Theme Camp.  Can I?

Possibly.  City Planning reserves the right to ask you to move your beast, if needed, and nearly all of the theme camp areas are prone to horrible muddy messes when RVs and rain are involved.  So caveat … what’s camper in latin?