Bliss Side Operations Handbook

What is Bliss Side? The acronym B.L.I.S.S. stands for beauty, love, inclusion, symbiosis, serenity. We are coming together for a fun weekend in the woods with these five nouns as our focal point. This document describes in moderate detail our suggested methods for a d-i-y style, burner community camp-out. We are not attempting to exactly imitate other events, so this document is more verbose than it might otherwise be. We will do our best to keep editing and refining this Handbook.

By buying tickets and entering the festival grounds, we each agree to do our best to enjoy the following methods to play.

List of contents: 1. Planning, 2. Food and Water, 3. Cars, 4. Physical and Mental Safety, 5. Security, 6. Sanitation, 7. Effigy, 8. Fires, 9. Pets, 10. Photography and Nudity, 11. Lake and Farm Houses, 12. Consent Culture, 13. Departure, 14. Suggestions

1. Planning:

We need your help! This event is created by the community. All participants are truly volunteers. Everyone who is coming is invited to be a part of the party planning crew. This event celebrates beauty, love, inclusion, serenity, and symbiosis. If you want to bring something special to increase these five things, please let us know during the ticketing process. For example, if you are planning to bring a sound system, a generator, and a theme camp (or something similar), then tell us! We will follow-up individually. It may be possible sometimes to coordinate and share resources, so not everyone has to bring their own genny, - most people could just bring an extra can of gas and an extension cord instead. If you prefer a quiet camping area, we have a plan for this, and we will do our best to arrange the neighborhoods. If you have questions and suggestions about planning, hit me up at Contact@blisssidetx.com If you want to offer activities in your camp for everyone, you can write them on the calendar at the FAQ Shack. We will also have a board to post notes and a map where you can put a marker so folks can find you.

2. Food and Water:

Bring enough water to survive, about 2-3 gallons per person. There may be camps with water available, and we will mark these on the map. You can refill cups and personal bottles from their public water containers that say WATER. It is polite to sanitize your hands first, and don't touch your bottle to the spout. Bring your own adult beverages, NOT IN GLASS BOTTLES, please. I guess that's okay if you have a glass bottle of something in your tent, just get a cup so we're not carrying around glass bottles in our hands. Also someone is planning to have beer and mixed drinks available by donation, we are waiting for full details to be announced. This event is for humans age 21 and up. Expect to have ID checked there at the gate when you sign-in at the wavier station. You can bring your weenies (or whatever) and cook them on the communal open fire. We are asking that nobody builds a personal fire on the ground, but instead let's live as one tribe. Shared fires only! It is both appropriate and kind to share meals with your neighbors whenever possible. You can also buy some food here, as we have invited our dear hosts to bring their food truck to the event. So there will be delicious food available for purchase nearby. Please be prepared with enough food to survive, but know there will be some sharing and a food truck close to the Gate area.

3. Cars:

Most of our camping area will not include cars. This means when you arrive, you have a couple of hours to unload your camping gear, then you need to move your car to be in the parking area. We understand some people are car-camping, or they are in an RV, or they just need to have their vehicle in their camp for some reason. That's okay, for $40 extra, buy a vehicle / RV pass, and you will be directed to the area for that. Vehicles left in the tent camping area will be given a gentle verbal prodding first. Don't make us put the boot on your car! That crusty old boot was found in a swamp and it smells like green algae. The map & plan will be available at the front gate and at the FAQ Shack. Also it is okay to park a tiny teardrop or any tiny RV 12' or shorter in the tent area with no RV pass as long as you take your tow vehicle to the parking lot (which is not far).

4. Physical and Mental Safety:

Please be careful and use situational awareness. Don't let anyone else get hurt if you can help it. We will have a health care professional on site to assist with medical incidents. The location of the medical tent will be on the map. Make sure someone brings a first aid kit for your camp, and everyone knows where it is. Party responsibly. Stay hydrated and eat a few meals every day. Don't skip your regular prescription medicine. Please, do your best to harmonize with those around you. We agree that each person holds in your heart an attitude of Beauty, Love, Inclusion, Symbiosis and Synergy (B.L.I.S.S.) towards yourself and others during this event. Or at least try to pretend you do. If you find that you are momentarily unable to maintain blissful consciousness, then try to take care of yourself. Give yourself a break from the stressors. You probably need food, water, and rest at this moment. Attempt to focus on something that is appealing: follow your bliss. We suspect your focus partly determines your reality. So let's do our best to overcome minor personal friction with the lubrication of love and serenity, if possible. We are providing peer-to-peer support and harm reduction available all weekend on-site. If you want to talk to someone about stuff, seek out the RestPit volunteers, near the FAQ Shack. This can be related to the party or else just talking about your own psychological issues. Here, you can get help in a low-stakes way, for free.

5. Security:

Our plan is that first, everyone will work together as-needed to provide security. Let's resolve to work together cooperatively and creatively to use peaceful conversation for any dispute resolution. Just the same method as if we were all at a casual birthday party at your grandma's house. No fighting, no biting.

Secondly, we also have a small group of roving volunteers who are embracing this role in a dedicated way. These are called Care Bears. We will provide training materials and accountability methods for the Care Bear team. We welcome anyone who wants to help with the Care Bears, please send a message on Facebook or email Contact@blisssidetx.com If you have any problem that looks like it may go beyond what you would consider peaceful conversation for dispute resolution, that is a good time to get the Care Bears involved. Talk to anyone with a walkie-talkie to put out a call.

Thirdly, we have a security officer on-call and at times they may be standing by at the front gate. These people are professionals that we hired, and they are here to protect you. So let's be kind and respectful towards these fellow humans. They may want to check your ID (at the gate) if someone looks younger than 21.

Fourth layer of the plan is this: look, this is a peaceful event, so consider that weapons in general are probably not necessary or desired here. We also agree not to steal from one another at this event. If you find some item on the ground, you can take it to lost and found at the FAQ Shack. If these items are still unclaimed on Sunday afternoon, we will post further information about them on our web site. http://www.blisssidetx.com

Trespassing will not be tolerated. Please make sure everyone buys a ticket to support this community endeavor. In the extremely unlikely event that someone gets into a dispute with the 4 main festival organizers, the landowners, or our security team, we would ask the person to either cooperate or leave the event. Sorry, tickets are not refundable.

6. Sanitation:

This is ultra-light living on the land. We are just camping a couple days and then leaving no trace afterward. So take it easy. Cleanup begins before you leave home. That means we preferably discard all excess packaging materials from our supplies before the trip begins. This makes it easier to haul our own trash bags out at the end of the event. Everyone is part of the cleanup crew, so please do slightly more than your part. We will rent port-a-potties for the weekend. Let's keep the both lids down between uses, so they don't stink. There is a hand washing station near the port-os. There are no showers provided, just take a shower when you get back home.

7. Effigy:

We have a large wooden work of art that is being donated, and we intend to burn it as part of a ceremony and performance on Saturday night at about 8:30. We already have a list of sober volunteers to maintain a safe perimeter. Reach put to me at contact@blisssidetx.com to be a part of the effigy crew. Or you can also sign-up on site at the FAQ Shack. No vehicles will be driving while the effigy is burning. If you are a fire spinner and you want to be part of the performance, talk to Magpye at the FAQ Shack or send us an email at the same contact address we keep saying.

8. Fires:

We are planning to have a central community fire pit. If other groups or camps want to have an above-ground fire in a suitable container, that is fine. All such fires must be watched by a human being, and you must have a shovel and 5 gallons of water standing by. Remember, we need to leave no trace that we were in this place. So you'll need adequate preparation for how to take the ashes and coals with you when you leave. We ask that you do not build a personal fire in your camp site. There is no firewood available on site. Everyone is responsible to help with the fire watch and spread the word about these fire policies. If you see anyone about to violate the fire policy, please encourage them to stop and reconsider!

9. Pets:

No pets are allowed, it is a limitation from the property owner. If you have proof you need your medical service dog, we will approve these on a case-by-case basis. If you show up at the gate with an animal that doesn't have prior approval, we will unfortunately ask you to turn around and leave Fifi somewhere else. We think the nearest kennel is in Waller, TX.

10. Photography and nudity:

You must ask for consent before you take an identifiable picture of someone. Let's put down our cell phones for a couple of days and relax. We are not in public, this is a private event. Nudity is allowed as long as you are out of sight from the road at the gate.

11. Lake and farm houses:

Stay away from the lake. The ground is very soft over there and we don't have permission to use this area. It is all right to look at the lake from a safe distance. Same with the other structures, stay away from them in general. You will see on the map at the FAQ Shack a circle around area where we are supposed to be.

12. Consent Culture:

Always establish enthusiastic consent before touching another person here. Pay attention to both body language and verbal clues. When asking for permission to touch another person, it is a good idea to check in again before the contact escalates to a more intimate level. “I so enjoyed dancing with you, would you like to hold hands and gaze at the moon?” Also remember consent can be withdrawn at any time for any reason, and we must honor this as part of the process. All species of animals have their own norms about it. We are evolving in this area and developing a new pattern for our society. Consent is sexy, so let's say YES - YES – OH YES to consent.

13. Departure:

We need everyone out by 5 p.m. Sunday at the latest, please.

14. Suggestions:

Questions or suggestions for improvement are welcome. Please contact us at the email address I mentioned five times earlier. Just know that simply making a suggestion does not constitute an agreement that we will follow your suggestion. If anyone becomes unable at some point to abide by these guidelines we have all agreed to, we may have to ask you to leave the event. Any potential ticket refund decision will be made within seven days after the event. The official policy is no refunds will be given. We reserve the right to change all these policies and bend them when we have to. After all, this was written by humans and we are not perfect.

Thanks for reading, have a nice day. Hope to see you in the sun shine.

Bliss Side is an event for those 21 years of age and older ONLY.

Bliss Side is not affiliated with the official Burning Man Project non-profit organization.