Community Updates
Between events and behind the scenes of Rendezvous, there's a lot going on. This page shares some of what we're working on, feedback we've received, newsletters, and other updates.
Spring Update 2026
Hey Folks!
As preparations for Rivercane are underway, we would like to provide a behind the scenes look into what Rendezvous as an organization has been up to between gatherings. We receive a lot of feedback after each event highlighting what needs attention, as well as some celebrations of what’s going well. One of the requests we’ve heard from the community is a desire for updates on the organization’s progress and priorities. With that in mind, we’ve decided to begin offering semiannual updates in our newsletters and on our website.
You can find these updates on our new Community Updates page (here!).
Some areas of focus based on recent feedback include:
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Desire for more communication and transparency
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Continued institutional and interpersonal equity work and increased diversity at all levels
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Request for new perspectives in event leadership
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Continued attention to the needs of youth and families
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Support for Seniors
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Desire for more opportunities for connection
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Need for increased fundraising efforts to keep things affordable
Equity: Our community exists in the context of broader society, so as we form relationships with each other and the Earth that are different from the ones we inherited, it is important to examine the influence society has on how we think and live. One part of that is reckoning with racism and the impact it has on every one of us. You can find out more about our efforts to increase the accessibility of our event to systematically disadvantaged people on our website under the Equity tab. In addition to the work detailed there, members of the leadership team are initiating more conversations with one another and with community members to discuss what’s alive for us as we do this work and to unpack what might be going on unconsciously. We are also working to create a training this year for staff, instructors, and members of leadership to increase understanding and further the conversation around creating a more well rounded community.
Leadership: We’ve heard a desire from the community for fresh voices on our leadership team. In Leadership Council (ERI’s board of directors) news, we have recently welcomed Nina Johnson, Rain Perrie, and Signi Goldman as the newest members of the council. We have also recently hired Nick Wentworth as the Assistant Coordinator (a staff role) to further support the gathering’s growth and sustainability. Nick has stepped down from his seat on the Leadership Council in order to fulfill the responsibilities of this new role. Michael Ismerio will also be leaving the Leadership Council in March of this year, after which we will select a new board chairperson.
Youth & Families: To better tend to the young people in our community we have put a focus on facilitating family friendly entertainment starting and ending earlier in the evenings. We have also sent out more detailed information about the youth programs to help parents know what to expect.
Seniors: After hearing requests from older members in our community for additional support on site to help keep the gathering accessible, we have created a senior camping area, a small senior discount fund, and have increased the number of handicapped accessible bathrooms on-site.
Connection: We’re working to find ways to create more connection opportunities at the gathering. This spring, we’re working to bring family-friendly fireside games to the main fire one evening of the event and to encourage more folks to have public-friendly personal fires at their camps that others are welcome to join (perhaps with some clear signage that we’ll provide). If you have ideas of how to create more connection, please let us know!
Fundraising: The costs of doing business and having events keeps going up. Even so, we’d like to keep tickets for Rendezvous affordable. With that in mind, we are working to ramp up our fundraising efforts this year! If you have experience with grant writing, fundraising, or any related activities and are interested in being of service, please reach out to EarthskillsCoordinator@gmail.com.
So, there’s always a lot of work going on behind the scenes. We hope that providing these updates for the community will support you all in knowing that we are listening to and responding to your feedback, and will give you insights on the ways you might be able to contribute. As always we look forward to seeing you at the gathering, and continuing the work to make our event the best it can be!
Sara Callaway, General Coordinator
Nick Wentworth, Assistant General Coordinator
Letter to Community Fall 2025
Dear Rendezvous Community,
There’s a cool breeze blowing today in the wake of all the recent rains, and it makes me think about how things shift. Storms followed by clear weather, the invisible winds of change.
In the interest of making the invisible more visible and keeping the community abreast of what’s going on behind the scenes at Rendezvous, I thought I’d write up a little bit about what we’re prioritizing working on this fall.
Based on the feedback from this past spring, we identified 5 areas that need attention:
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Morning Circle Composition (what are we focusing on and for how long)
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Main Fire Evening Events (offering more oversight, keeping them family friendly, broadly appealing, and more carefully curated)
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Youth Programs (offering more information for parents on what to expect)
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Communicating with the Community about Incidents (when and how to provide adequate context and meaningful options to engage)
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Right Relationship Training (working to provide an opportunity for community members to learn more about how to best work with our Indigenous Relatives)
We appreciate the wide range of feedback we got on these topics, and some of the really stellar suggestions on how to proceed!
We’re actively looking into these areas, doing research, having conversations, playing with structures, tinkering with approaches, and coming up with plans. So alongside all the regular planning and work we do, that’s what we’re up to. Hopefully you’ll notice how things are a little different this fall.
For 40 years, we’ve been working to keep earth skills alive and vibrant, and we just keep working on our growing edges. We’re in it for the long haul.
Holding the past to hold the future–
SARA
Letter to Parents Fall 2025
Rendezvous is so grateful to have so many families and youth at our events! About 1/4 of the people at Rendezvous are kids under the age of 18! Families are what keep our event thriving.
This past spring, we got some feedback that parents would like some greater transparency on what to expect at the event. With that in mind, we’ve got some updates and reminders for you.
EVENING EVENTS
We’re working hard this fall to curate a family-friendly lineup for the evenings.
Wednesday night, we’re excited to welcome Billy Jonas back to Rendezvous around the main fire! Billy Jonas is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and educator who excels at inviting audience participation for all ages. He offers spirited, straightforward music that is accessible to anyone and everyone, regardless of age or cultural background. The big-tent festival quality of Billy's music facilitates connection and community while fostering inspiration and... most importantly... FUN.
Thursday night, we’re having a Youth Talent Show! Youth ages 3-17, bring your songs, monologues, magic tricks, poems and dances! Just after dinner on Thursday evening, from 7-9pm (if things go according to plan) we'll take turns performing in front of the stage. Concessions will be sold at the tiki bar as a fundraiser for the youth program. Sign up with the Youth Program Coordinator, Sara Henry, by Thursday afternoon. Performances should be around 3-5 minutes long. Costumes are welcome!
Friday night, we're delighted to have Nancy Basket offering some storytelling for kids right after supper in front of the stage around 7pm. When Nancy was little, she always listened to the adults talking about the family. In 1989 she moved to the Carolina's to learn more Native American stories of respect. She now shares her Native American heritage by re-telling ancient legends.
Saturday night, Doug Elliott and the Possum Gravy Boys will be telling stories and making music around Main Fire. Doug Elliott is a naturalist, herbalist, storyteller, basket maker, back-country guide, philosopher, and harmonica wizard. Doug’s stories derive from his unique lifestyle as well as his deep interest in plants, animals and people. Since humanity’s beginnings our connections with the natural world have defined us and made us who we are. Elliott’s stories explore and celebrate the rich diversity of that special human connection to nature.
We’re also going to have a main fire and evening events MC to help get things started on time and keep them family friendly from 7-10pm.
PRONOUNS IN YOUTH PROGRAMS
We heard feedback from some parents that they were concerned about Youth Program Staff asking kids for their pronouns.
We understand that this is a complex issue and that folks are deeply divided about it. Researchers, educators, and parents all disagree about what is true, what is appropriate, what is helpful, and what is understandable for kids of different ages.
At Rendezvous, we strive to be welcoming to people from a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We attempt to be a middle ground where people can come together. So we hope that you’ll bear with us as we work to find a path forward with this issue.
Our current approach will be to offer an opportunity to share pronouns if folks want to. Some of our Youth Staff are nonbinary and offer their pronouns when they offer their names because they don’t use he/she pronouns and instead use they/them. If any youth would rather not share their pronouns, that's ok too, and they can always pass if they are given the option to share their pronouns in a group, such as in a gratitude circle - it’s not mandatory. If any youth are uncomfortable using someone’s stated pronouns, it’s always appropriate to refer to a person by their name.
BOUNDARIES & EXPECTATIONS REMINDER
Water Safety - children under the age of 13 must be accompanied by an adult or teen in order to venture to the creek, lake, or waterfall.
Curfew - everyone under the age of 18 is asked to be at their home camp by 12 a.m. unless they are with an adult or attending the teen fire. *
*Note: Please let your teens know that there is always someone from First Aid available to help them in case of an emergency or any issues they may have, even if they are out after the curfew.
Respect: please, encourage your kids to treat the land, plants, animals, buildings and other infrastructure and property (especially private property not open to us) of Avalon with respect. We like it at Avalon, and we’d like to continue having events there!
AFTERNOONS
Youth Programs run every morning of the event. So what do kids do in the afternoons? Some classes welcome students of various ages, such as 10 and up or 12 and up, or younger with parental support, so be sure to check the class listings for age limits. If an age limit is not stated, you’re welcome to politely ask the instructor teaching the class what ages they will accept.
Sometimes kids tag along to classes their parents are taking in the afternoons. Kids are welcome to join their parents in classes so long as they don’t become distractions for the instructor or other students (if they do, you will be asked to take them elsewhere).
Many families also enjoy going to the creek together in the afternoons.
And many kids enjoy the freedom of running around, playing, and making their own fun with a bunch of other kids in the relatively safe environment of the event.
We ask that all parents, guardians, and other grown-ups keep an eye out for the safety and well-being of kids at the event, particularly in the case of unsupervised groups of kiddos, since they don’t always have the best judgement and might need guidance from time to time.
Ok. We hope that these updates and reminders will support our families in making informed choices about what to participate in at Rendezvous, what to expect, and how to engage.
If you have any questions about this, you are welcome to reach out to our
Youth Program Coordinator (earthskills.youthprogram@gmail.com) or our
General Coordinator (earthskillscoordinator@gmail.com) for more information.
We're excited to be with you again this fall!
Team Rendezvous
Letter to Parents Spring 2025
Hello Rendezvous Parents & Guardians of Children & Teens,
We hope this email finds you well and enjoying the flowers and the spring sunshine! Rendezvous is so grateful for all the families with children and teens who attend our events these days. The demographic has shifted dramatically over the last decade from a gathering with a small handful of youth to a gathering that is about 1/4 youth!
We love that the event has felt so nourishing for families - we’ve worked hard to build our youth program into what it is today! And we have also realized that having such a large number of youth on the land has created a need for us to offer the community some clearer boundaries and expectations around how families and youth carry themselves at the event and tend to the land and each other.
At our last spring event, unfortunately there were some incidents where plants (particularly bamboo) and property (particularly the dock, which is off-limits) were trespassed upon and/or damaged. It's important to us that we maintain a good relationship with the landowners and the land where we host our event. We like it at Avalon, and we’d like to continue having events there! So please, encourage your kids to treat the land, plants, animals, buildings, and other infrastructure and property (especially private property not open to us) of Avalon with respect.
Until now, we haven't had any rules around children needing to be supervised by an adult at the event. We really value the option for children to be autonomous and allowed to "free range" at the gathering. But for the sake of safety, we’ve decided it’s time to implement a couple of basic rules:
Water Safety - children under the age of 13 must be accompanied by an adult or teen in order to venture to the lake or the waterfall.
Curfew - everyone under the age of 18 is asked to be at their home camp by 12 a.m. unless they are with an adult or attending the teen fire. *
We feel these two basic boundaries are important to support continued safety and well-being in camp.
*Note: Please let your teens know that there is always someone from First Aid available to help them in case of an emergency or any issues they may have, even if they are out after the curfew. There will always be a radio at the first aid station, and there will be someone on the other end of that radio ready to get up and help them if they need it. We would much rather teens seek the help they need than not, for fear of getting in trouble. Their safety is of the utmost importance to us.
In the interest of helping our youth to be safe and make good choices, we ask that all parents, guardians, and other grown-ups keep an eye out for questionable situations. We’re all responsible for our community well-being. If you see something unsafe or disrespectful happening, please kindly check in with the child or teen. If you need help intervening, please ask a staff member, the first aid team, or the care team for support. We're here to help!
Also, please encourage your children and teens to show up at the event ready to be kind, look out for those who are younger than themselves, tend to the land with respect, and be in service to the community as a whole.
If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, let us know! We are happy to connect about it and hear ideas about how we can best tend to the youth at Rendezvous and hold a nurturing container for them.
You can reach Sara Henry, our Youth Program Coordinator at Earthskills Rendezvous here: earthskills.youthprogram@gmail.com.
Warmly,
Sara Henry
Co-Founder & Director of Corylace Cove Nature Programs
Youth Program Coordinator at Earthskills Rendezvous
Sara Callaway
General Coordinator at Earthskills Rendezvous
