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I just spent 5 days camping in the mountains of Vermont with some of the most interesting people I've ever met. Firefly was my third different regional burn, my sixth such event total. I don't quite feel up to writing an event report, but I am very motivated to put down my thoughts on the differences between these events, pros and cons of each, with the goal of illustrating the variety to newcomers and possibly providing some suggestions to the communities and organizations for one or both.

Firefly just had their 10th event. The 6th Alchemy is coming up, and the second Euphoria recently took place. Euphoria is itself related to Alchemy in many ways, including sharing a site, called Cherokee Farms. I'll refer to it by that name here when I'm saying things about the site instead of about the specific events.

This year, Firefly had about 700 people, Alchemy continues to grow and will have 3000+ people, while Euphoria had about 800 people. All three events can continue to grow for many years on their current sites with suitable changes in policies, layout, etc.

Firefly is during high summer in Vermont. Long days with a hot peak in the afternoon, comfortable to chilly nights. Euphoria is early summer in Georgia. Sunny and sweltering days, comfortable nights. Alchemy is in autumn in Georgia. Cool days, chilly nights. All of this is, of course, modulated by more fine details of weather, such as rain.

Firefly is held very close to a town of population ~2000 surrounded by wilderness. Cherokee Farms is outside a town of population ~8000 with rural residences stretching out in multiple directions. This is a more significant difference than it might seem at first. Bethel VT has almost no commercial infrastructure. Last minute shopping is limited to gas stations and a business-hours hardware store. Lafayette GA, on the other hand, has thrift stores, a WalMart, and multiple other specialty stores. This means people can show up to Euphoria or Alchemy less well prepared and grab things just before coming through the gate. On the other hand, it allows for some rapid resolution of mid-event infrastructure problems.

Firefly's site, in the middle of Vermont, is mostly wooded, a multi generation sparse to dense pine forest with some small clearings and one large field. A thick bed of pine needles covers most of the wooded areas, providing relatively comfy ground for sleeping, and decent protection from mud. Almost all of the camping areas are in shade 90% or more of the day. The entire site is on a rolling average-15% grade, which makes vehicle access impossible for most people and foot traffic very strenuous in some directions. It also means there is very obvious direct drainage from any given location and choosing sites that won't get washed out is rather easy. It is located in an area with well trafficked neighbors (including a riding competition/instruction facility) which leads to there being some "no nudity" boundaries. The only permanent artificial man-made infrastructure on site are some very small wooden bridges. Porta-potties are provided at the edge of the site, a good trek from the camping areas. There is a very small stream running through the site with a few forks, some tiny waterfalls, and a single small rock dam pool, all of which are constantly bracingly cold. The site is used a few times per year for other events, which leaves it in a relatively wild state with regards to ground clearing, fallen wood, insects, etc.

Cherokee Farms is in northwest Georgia. It is mixed sparse to dense mostly-deciduous forest with small to huge clear areas and fields. Average grade is perhaps 3%. There are dirt roads and otherwise car-friendly grass throughout the site, allowing direct vehicle access to almost every camping area. Available shade for camping areas averages around 25%. Porta-potties are provided throughout the site. There are three or more permanent buildings including a small covered stage, a dozen shower stalls with running occasionally-hot water, and an outdoor kitchen. There is one body of water, a small pond with some fish, some turtles, and a muddy bottom. There are a half dozen electrical outlets in specific places on the site, mostly reserved for event infrastructure. The site is used multiple times per month for a wide variety of events.

The wide differences between these two landscapes leads to a lot of different sorts of environment-driven behaviors at the two events. There is almost no fallen wood at Cherokee Farms, because of the types of trees, the lesser degree of forestation, and the more often use of the land, so almost all firewood, including kindling, must be brought from off-site. Firefly has a virtually inexhaustible supply of kindling, to the point that ground and paths must be cleared of wood prior to camping in many cases. The stream at Firefly provides refrigeration for beverages and cooling for people, as well as a steady supply of non-potable water for projects like the steam bath. The pond at Cherokee Farms is occasionally used for swimming or floating art/camps. Urination in the woods at Firefly is common and accepted, because the potties are often 10 minutes away. At Cherokee Farms it is frowned upon, where the potties are rarely more than 2 minutes away. Personal camps at Firefly are more tightly contained and weight-efficient, due to the long trek on foot, and a much higher proportion of attendees are part of a theme camp. Over-camp hard shade structures are less common at Firefly because tarps of arbitrarily large sizes can easily be hung from the trees. Hammocks and cargo nets are much more common at Firefly.

Despite the landscape being more challenging and the site being more remote for most attendees, Firefly has a much higher proportion of installations and art projects. Comparing similar sized events, Firefly and Euphoria, I would estimate that Firefly has 4x as many art projects, art installations, planned gifts, interactive projects, etc. Firefly even compares favorably to Alchemy, despite being less than 1/4 the size. Almost every theme camp had at least one thing set up for people to see or do or participate in, and some had many (Bring-a-Cup, Totenkitten, Diode... I'm looking at you!). As a proportion of attendees, I would say that at least half of the people at Firefly were involved in one of these projects, leaving fewer than half as "mere" spectators. At Euphoria and Alchemy I would put that split closer to 20/80.

Firefly allows fires, including spinning and effects, only in certain areas with clearance from other activities and trees. Cherokee Farms allows fires in above-ground pits almost anywhere, as well as fire effects. Firefly has official policy against "rides" due to their liability insurance provider, including a ban on zip lines, while Alchemy occasionally has officially sanctioned ride-like installations, such as a roller coaster or slide. In contrast to this, Firefly camps and art tend to have more exciting infrastructure, like multi-story hammock cities, elevated cargo nets, and installations with moving parts heavy enough to knock people out.

Firefly has more music camps, but they are much more quiet. Firefly has a LOT more electronic visual camps (projectors, light shows, etc). Euphoria and Alchemy have more per capita glow and fire spinners, and they play more often. Firefly has more accomplished professional circus art / skill toy performers. Alchemy has more centralized planning and scheduling (Logistics), and more official public infrastructure (Center camp), followed closely by Euphoria. Firefly has relatively little, in comparison. This is compensated for by more and larger public infrastructure at theme camps at Firefly, including more areas with seating or entertainment for large numbers of people at once.

There are a wide variety of distinctions between the events related to sex and alcohol and such, but those are enough of a different-for-every-person sort of situation that they don't lend well to much detail here.

I hope all of this is helpful for someone out there. It's definitely helped me bring together my thoughts on some of the differences in these events, and I've got good ideas on how I'll be trying to bring some of the better parts of each event to the other in the future.
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Clarence "Sparr" Risher

February 2025

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