We are just over 4 weeks away from Camp Vineyard 2021! We’re so, so excited to get together in person this year! As we hinted at last time, we’re making some changes to how we do programming for 2021.
We Still Have A Few Spots For Adults and Campers
Right up top, we want to let you know that we still have a handful of spots available. If you were on the fence about Camp, don’t miss out! After the Camper spots fill up, Adults will get dibs on the remaining ones. Once we’ve got all the Adults we need, we’ll open up the rest for Campers.
If you have a cancellation (we know, it happens), let us know ASAP so we can free up that spot for someone who is able to go.
Neat! Groups Changes for 2021
Neat! Groups are going to be different this year. Normally, we keep church groups together for cabin assignments, mix them up for Color Team assignments, and let students pick which Neat! Groups they want to do at registration. Then, during the day, the teams split off by Junior and Senior Camper to go to either Neat! Groups or Color Team Competitions. This year, because of the GDPH and CDC guidelines on cohorts, we are keeping church groups together for cabins, Color Teams, and Neat! Groups, and not splitting activities by Junior and Senior Camper. So, during the morning activity time, 4 entire teams will go to Color Team Competitions while the other 4 go to Neat! Groups. In the afternoon, they swap.
In order to make this work and keep the teams together, we are changing everyone’s assignments and assigning each entire team a rotation of Neat! Groups, 2 per day (one hour each) for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This means that everyone will have an opportunity to do Zip Line, Giant Swing, and Duct Tape, along with a little Mad Science and Canoes. Half the teams will do High Ropes while the other half will do Archery. Campers who don’t feel up to the Zip or Swing don’t have to do it, but they do need to be there to cheer on their teammates. It’s a much, much different system in some ways, but it has the advantage of giving everyone who wants to do one of the high-demand groups an opportunity. And you get to do a lot of stuff – just maybe not the stuff you signed up for.
One of the downsides of this system is losing the Tracks and the leadership-focused Groups. We’re going to be making some optional discussion times available during Free Time on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for some of those activities. It’s a compromise, but we want to make as much of our normal programming available in some form as we can.
Color Team Cohorts
We’ve had some questions about how this will work. So, if you’re a church group around ~30 attendees, you will be your own Color Team. If you’re a smaller group, you will be put together with one or more other church groups to form a Color Team. We will combine the groups for cabin assignments (split guys/girls, of course, but you knew that). They’ll all eat meals together, play games together, and (as outlined above) do Neat! Groups together.
For Color Team Competitions, we’re changing these a little, too. We’re building in a little social distancing to games that need it, and structuring the rounds so that the Junior Campers don’t get sidelined (or flattened!) by their Senior Camper teammates. Big Game includes new takes on some classics from the archive, as well as a new puzzle race across Camp.
During Free Time, you’re free to hang out. We just ask that you leave some space if you’re around other Campers and Adults not on your Color Team. There’s lots of outdoor public space at Woodland, so you can still make new friends from different churches without being directly in their personal space.
Updated COVID Guidelines Coming
With the CDC’s latest update last week regarding fully vaccinated individuals and masks, we are waiting for Woodland’s updated guidance. Once we’ve got that, we will post an updated COVID guidelines sheet in the Parent and Volunteer Pack and write about it here.
That’s it for now! Stay connected to @campvineyard on social media, and keep an eye on the blog.