Polycamp's History

In 2003 two great events happened in the Seattle area: SPCC's Wetspot in Paradise and the Institute for 21st Century Relationship's Building Bridges Conference. I enjoyed both events and got a lot out of them, but didn't really feel they met my need, which was to be surrounded by poly people. I decided in true Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland fashion to "put on a show". I knew about the Polycamp run on the East coast and decided we really needed one here. I announced in November of 2003 to my astonished friends and lovers I was going to put on Polycamp.

I'm afraid nobody really believed me.

I approached the Longhouse in Redmond and they were amenable to the idea and we worked out a very low cost for the rental of the facility. Without their initial help Polycamp would not have happened, for which I am grateful.

Low and behold discovered that the adage "if you build it, they will come" is true. About 170 people attended camp in 2004. People volunteered their time, their experience and expertise in the workshops that were given and everyone had a lot of fun. There was a definite desire to do it again. So even though I never intended to start something this big, Polycamp grew a life of its own.

In the spring of 2005 the Longhouse began voicing a concern about having events with children present. In the intervening year they had begun hosting more adult-only events. They decided 6 weeks before camp to hold a summit meeting of all the groups using the facility and the overwhelming consensus there was those groups did not want to deal with the potential liability of children. But I got them to agree that camp could go forward as planned, as a family event.

In 2006 we tried to move Polycamp to a local AYH facility but the deal fell through at the last minute. Instead we held a picnic (Poly Day Camp) in Kenmore’s Rhododendron Park that was very successful.

text