Vibecamp 2026 Retrospective

Wednesday

I continued my yearly tradition of hosting a pre-party at my house in South Jersey. The party means a lot to me because I love hosting, and hosting the party was my first introduction to Vibecamp. VC2 was my first, and thanks to Eneasz Brodski, I invited like 50 strangers over to my house ahead of time. It was an amazing introduction and made me feel much more confident that I would have a good time.

Gina Martinelli smoked brisket and pork, I made a cheese plate and coconut mojitos. We put out some other snacks and drinks and welcomed people over. As usual, Bashu was the life of the party, despite the fact that our hot tub was broken and the new one wouldn’t be delivered until the Monday after vc (it’s not my fault! I ordered it 4 weeks ago). He jumped in the pool instead.

A bunch of old and new friends showed up, and I think everyone had a good time. It was more chill than in previous years, which Gina thinks was due to the lack of the aforementioned hot tub, but people ate, drank, and be merry’ed. I got in the pool, even though it wasn’t really great pool weather. All weather is pool weather if you drink enough! Eneasz, after several delays of his flight, got here late in the evening with Jennifer Kesteloot, which was the icing on top for me. It’s not Vibecamp until they arrive.

Everyone started leaving around midnight, which I always appreciate because Thursday is a big day. I was in bed by 1am.

Thursday

I woke up and wasn’t even hung over! In fact, I managed to avoid hangovers the entire weekend with my brilliant strategy of drinking twice as much water as alcohol. Thursday is always rough, because I spend Wednesday doing party stuff and don’t even bother starting to pack until Thursday morning. And we bring a lot of stuff, including a very heavy PA system. We managed to pack everything into the little Honda Fit, make it to camp, and then unload everything with the help of several friends. Then it was time for the Thursday tradition of spending all afternoon in the pool after being overheated from all the schlepping. Kids aren’t allowed in the big pool, so I always bring a kiddie pool for Roxie & her friends. This time, it came with a slip & slide! The kids played with a slip & slide for a bit, but it wasn’t that exciting. They mostly liked the kiddie pool.

After dinner and the opening ceremony, Gina put Roxie to bed and I attempted to host karaoke. Due to opening ceremonies going late and some technical difficulties with the sound system, we only had about an hour. We also had no internet, so I couldn’t play anyone’s songs! I ended up asking everyone to download their own songs, then connect to the bluetooth speaker. It mostly worked! The crowd was spectacular. They cheered. They sang along. They rolled with all the difficulties. They danced. They clapped. It was an audience that you dream of.

I stayed sober Thursday, which I think was a good decision. I drank every other night and didn’t suffer too badly for it. After karaoke, I wandered around for a while, then hung out with Gina, Eneasz, Jen, Mary Zoso, and Steven Zuber on the swings, then went to bed.

Friday

Friday, like every other morning, started with a visit to Ground Truth. If you don’t know, Latent Space Marine and his crew spend all morning brewing excellent coffee on camp stoves and handing it out to all comers. It’s so much better than what you can get at the dining hall. Then they spend all night making fancy cocktails, including my favorite - the sazerac. They do this entirely for free. They are absolute heroes. Throw them a few dollars if you can spare it.

Roxie mostly took care of herself all weekend. She formed a little kid crew with Dancing Horse and Scott Hansen’s kids, and they required very little supervision. We first brought her at age 4, and we needed to keep an eye on her that year, but the past two years we’ve been comfortable letting her run around on her own. The playground we build last year was still up and looking great. The kids used it as their fortress and defended it with pinecones from any interloping adults.

Once we had our coffee, Gina set up her bubble-blowing event. She really went all out this year, with a high-quality bubble machine, gallons of high-color bubble solution, a half-dozen giant bubble wands, and a case of differently shaped bubbled blowers. The kids had a great time for the first hour, then right as they went off to do something else, a bunch of adults showed up and soon there were like 10-15 adults all blowing bubbles in front of our cabin. It was perfect.

Lunch was eggs, biscuits, and sausage, which I thought was great, but Gina didn’t love. It also reminded me that I had brought homemade hot sauce and my “essence of pure flavor” spice blend, which improved things immensely.

After lunch, we checked out one of the the coolest events all weekend - VIBErant colors by Bijan and husband. They started out by showcasing a collection of colors that can’t be rendered on screens and can only be experienced IRL. But the main event was a lab spectroscopy setup. They turned the meeting room into a dark room, and showed what colors different elements displayed when excited in a little beam. And they had glasses that would split apart the spectrum so you could see exactly which wavelengths were being emitted. It was SO COOL. Gina already has plans to bring in her florescent rock collection next year to add to their showcase.

Then we went to see the petting zoo! Roxie was not terribly interested. She’s just not that into petting animals. She has the same ambivalence at our local zoo. I, however, love it - especially the duck. She wouldn’t stop really loudly quacking. It was great.

That afternoon, Dancing Horse heroically found a lifeguard so the kids could be allowed in the pool for an hour each day. Tbh, they tend to like the kiddie pool better, but Roxie appreciated being allowed to go in the big pool for at least a little bit. She’s a good swimmer and loves being in the water, even if she’s actually much more interested in shooting people with water guns. I also appreciate Dancing Horse insisting that kid pool time occur during the official pool party. I strongly approve of her attitude that kids and adults should be mingling more, and that the ingroup especially needs some exposure to children.

Friday night is my favorite event to host - the summer solstice celebration. It’s based on the rationalist winter solstice events, and follows a similar format where someone gives a speech or some kind of introduction, followed by a thematic song. But unlike the winter solstice, we focus on living in the moment and appreciating how good we’ve got it. We try to keep it lighthearted and positive, though apparently we keep making people cry.

For years, I dreamed about doing a summer solstice show, but it seemed so logistically difficult. I would have to book a space, recruit musicians, advertise, somehow motivate people to show up, etc. Vibecamp was the perfect opportunity. The audience is already there. The musicians are there. I just have to post it to the schedule. That lets us keep the focus on putting together a good show. This was the best one yet, despite having a grand total of two rehearsals. Gina and Gubes are incredible musicians that just make it work.

Timing is tough because it’s meant to coincide with the sunset, and we need to start by 7:45pm, but a lot of people are still at dinner at that point. I keep trying to get the vc team to move dinner to 6-8pm (is anyone still eating at 9pm??) but so far, to no avail. Regardless, solstice went great! I think this was our best one yet. We really leaned into the “finding your inner five-year-old” theme. Gubes is locked in as the third member of our trio, on vocals and uke, and he really holds it down. He did a speech this year where he played the “Why?” game with the audience, and encouraged everyone to nurture their curiosity. Steven Zuber came up and gave a speech about how a good friend of his died young, and it inspired him to stop waiting for permission to be happy (which gave us a perfect excuse to perform “Happiness Runs” by Donovan). Gina talked about how she finally found the strength this year to cut off her parents, and how she’s felt like she’s aging in reverse ever since, and it made me tear up a little bit. I had trouble singing the next song. These were all beautiful speeches, and I hope they all post the text somewhere (update: you can read Gina’s here!). I talked about how Roxie is my hero.

The show climaxes with a performance of “There’s So Much Energy In Us” by Cloud Cult, which is the song that gave the show its name. It’s really the perfect song for the occasion. Then we’re really self-indulgent and play an obscure David Bowie song called “Memory of a Free Festival” that nobody knows but us. But it’s the perfect song. The verses all basically describe Vibecamp, and it ends by repeating the line “sun machine is coming down and we’re gonna have a party,” which I time to coincide with the sunset. It’s so vibes-appropriate. We finished with “Heroes,” a much better-known Bowie song, and encouraged everyone to be heroes, just for one day (and at least one person appreciated it).

Once Solstice is over, Vibecamp for me shifts from host mode to party mode. I have way fewer responsibilities, so that’s when I take an edible, have a few drinks, throw on my shiny suit, and just focus on having a good time. The first stop was to Bitter Lesson for a sazerac. As I was sitting there, I had this interaction with a random guy in line (paraphrased from memory):

him: are you Wes?

Me: Yes

him: you yelled at me on Twitter for not having my dating doc in my profile, so I put my dating doc in my profile. <gestures> this is my girlfriend! She saw it and DM’ed me! I’m going to be moving soon to be with her!

Sadly, I can’t find the Twitter convo, but I was so happy and wouldn’t shut up about it for like 2 days. More people should listen to me! Good things happen when you listen to me!

So now, with party mode in full effect, it was time for emo night. Octocuss did my eyeliner, which was so high quality and waterproof that it did not come off until I got access to genuine makeup remover on Monday morning. I’ve been told this was intentional. Brudolf put together a killer playlist, but more importantly, he didn’t try to do anything ~creative~ other than picking good songs. No EDM. No remixes. No crossfading. No samples. No “creating an auditory experience.” Just songs people liked, played from start to finish. I’ve never seen people more into a dance party in my life. Also there was a very active mosh pit. We all loved it. Everyone literally applauded after every song. Other DJ’s take note! Shoutouts to Melody, Ari Zerner, and Gubes for being especially into it.

After the Vibe Parade, I got another cocktail at Bitter Lesson (have I mentioned that those guys are heroes?), then got midnight ramen from Leah (Prime), which was every bit as delicious as last year. I skipped vibedip this year. I did not drink enough to make jumping in the pool in 65 degree weather sound enticing. I don’t quite remember what I did after that, but I’m pretty sure I stayed up another few hours just chatting and vibing with Eneasz, Mary, Gina, and others. I was going to go to bed at 2am, but Eneasz convinced me to stay out another hour. I think I was in bed by 3.

Saturday

Saturday was pajama day! I wore my purple silk bathrobe all morning. As always, the first stop was Ground Truth. Then I grabbed a bagel and sat in for a little bit of Mary’s “Love Your Lust” event. I don’t really need the workshop (I already love my lust!), but I love watching her draw people out and work her magic.

After lunch, it was time for our live recording of the Sex and Sensibility Podcast! We each gave our #1 piece of sex or relationship advice, then invited the audience up to share their advice. Eventually people just started asking questions, so we had some interesting discussions. Christian hasn’t sent me the audio yet, but he assures me it will be soon.

Then I stopped by Gubes’ improve games event for a minute. That guy is good at improv! In general, Gubes was vibing his heart out all weekend. Since vc ended, I’ve seen several Gubes appreciation posts, and I’ve happy that he’s getting some recognition. We’re all lucky to have him.

I also tried dodgeball with Ari. Except plot twist! Ari didn’t love how dodgeball went on Friday, so he decided we were going to play capture the flag, but combined with dodgeball. I was skeptical, but it actually worked great. It added a move where you could take someone out from your side, then run through the hole in their defenses.

After getting overheated running around the far field, it was time for the kid swim. We hung in the pool for a while, then Eneasz, Steven, Gina, and I decided we wanted more coffee. It was almost 5pm, so we figured it was a long shot that Ground Truth was still open, but we decided to check anyway. As we suspected, they were gone, but the Steven just walked back behind the table, fired up the burners, and made coffee for everyone! It was a very “you can just do things” moment.

On our way back, we ran into the Vibecamp trials. This had been going on all weekend but none of us had participated. One of the trials was to find four people participating and match up puzzle pieces. There were for of us, so we said what the heck and signed up. We got a little badge and a neat metal card holder thing to keep it in. The other tasks were to find books and decode a secret message, find hidden rats around camp, and discover secrets at the question marks on the map. There was also a “you can just do things” trial, which just required you to reach out and take a badge. So that was two down!

We decided to go look for rats. The clue was that one of them was “doing farm work” so we decided to check the barn. It was around that time that we saw Roxie and she was not doing great. She was irritable and did not look like she was getting frustrated with her friends. We invited her to come look for rats with us, and she agreed, so off we went. We failed to find the rat in the barn, and Roxie was upset about that. But it was about that time we realized what the issue was: she was starving. She’s kind of a picky eater, so she hadn’t been eating much at meal times. She was mostly living off of chips and Oreos, and it had caught up with her. Thankfully, it was almost dinner time and they were serving burgers - one of her favorites. We loaded up a bun with two patties and she ate the whole thing. She felt much better after that and enjoyed the rest of her evening.

After dinner, we got some Secret Third Drinks and hung out at the cabin while Hazard, Disco, and crew set up their Tesla coil to show the kids! It was SO COOL! Roxie got to hold a metal pole and direct the electric current around.

It was about this time I really started to hate the vc media consent policy. I pulled out my phone to take a photo, but realized it wasn’t allowed because there were a few other people in the shot and I didn’t have time to ask everyone. I could easily edit them out later, but that’s not allowed. Now I don’t have a photo of this really special moment to show her grandmother and her uncle, or to show Roxie later to remind her of how much fun she had. One of the ways Roxie remembers things is through photos. She’ll often point to a photo to reference an experience she had when she doesn’t know the right words for it. Now I’m afraid she won’t remember, or we won’t know how to describe it well enough so she knows what we’re talking about. I actually don’t have any photos of any of my favorite moments from vc because there was always someone around and by the time you ask for permission, the moment’s passed. It’s pretty disappointing. I’d much prefer a policy where you can take photos for personal use, but need permission to share them.

Then it was time visit Bitter Lesson again, where Eneasz and Paul Crowley ran into a third goth dude with long hair, and they bro’ed out for a while. We briefly stopped into the pavilion for buddhi’s set, but EDM really doesn’t do it for me, so we didn’t stay long. Also, the lack of sleep, dehydration, drinking, and general overwhelm from the weekend was catching up with Gina. We went to Waffle House instead, which was excellent. I love how every night someone volunteers to feed all comers. It’s so wholesome, and yet another reason we don’t need dinner to be late!

Gina went to bed and I went to Tim’s midnight sing-along on the balcony above the pool. It ended up being one of my favorite events of the entire weekend. Tim is a wizard with a guitar. You just call out a song and within 30 seconds he can play the whole thing. I sang for two hours straight. The crowd kept growing. People were spontaneously doing harmony. My friends kept texting me and I kept being like “I’m going to stay for a few more songs” and eventually they realized I probably wasn’t leaving and showed up to sing too. It was over too soon! Nothing was going to top that, so I went to bed shortly after.

Sunday and Beyond

Sunday was mostly packing up, traveling home, unpacking, and lying around exhausted. The closing ceremony was nice, especially Bashu’s song. Getting home was uneventful. I drove Eneasz and Jen to the airport, where instead of flying home they flew to Paris! I tend to just want to sleep after vc, so the idea of taking a whole other vacation directly afterwards sounds exhausting to me, but I hope they had fun.

Monday was back to work (“business bitch” as Alex put it). Then I got a DM from Octocuss that her flight was delayed and she needed a place to stay, so I went and got her, and she stayed that night with us. It was really nice to connect with her more, and it felt like vc lasted a little longer.

It’s really hard to compare, but this might have been my favorite Vibecamp yet. I’ve been coming since vc2, and they’ve all been pretty special in their own way. It wasn’t until I wrote it down that I realized how much I actually did. My one regret is that I have so many friends at vc now that I barely meet anyone new. Next year I’m going to make an effort to talk to people I’ve never met, and might even cordon off some kind of “no friend zone” where you’re not allowed to talk to anyone you already know.

Speaking of next year, tickets are live for a limited time! I already got mine, and I hope you will too. I have a feeling vc6 is going to be even better.