Patron camper input needed

[mpullen]

Sherwood campers, I need your input as soon as possible. I have a management meeting to attend on May 17th, where we discuss the last season results, plus requirements for the 2015 season and beyond.

My plans include clearing additional area in the General/Open camping area (AKA, the rowdy area) to add at least 20 more camping spots, and clearing of the Yaupon/small stuff from the Quiet/Family camping areas (to add about 500 more camping spots - this is my main priority), plus mapping the entire campgrounds with the intention of establishing another reserved clan camping area above Alan Cameroon's area.

Note that bulldozer rental doesn't come cheap.

So, I need your input: for those camping in the General/Open/Family/Quiet camping areas, what did you like and what did you dislike this past season?

You can reply here, but best place is the respond to my camping@sherwoodforestfaire.com account.

[Riff Raff]

I was camped in the Quiet/Family area all of this season.  My main "Like" were the camping spots that are slightly set back from the main road with a few trees between the tent area and the road.  Those felt remarkably nice and private, for the most part.  Delightful.  And I hope a decent number of spots are able to stay like that, even with expansion plans.

My primary "Dislikes" were all distance related.  Distance to faire entrance somewhat, but primarily the distance to water and shower facilities.  My main desire would simply be a water faucet and some showers actually located in the public camping areas.  Also, based on the number of lost people I had to direct, I imagine a lot of people in the public camping areas could use better signage pointing the way to the faire entrance.

[GNASloth]

Concur with Riff Raff's comments.  Sent you an email with more.

[Trillium]

What I liked about our spot in the family camping was that it wasn't on the roadside, we found a spot inside the loop surrounded by trees.  More spots off the roadside would be great and making it more obvious that it is a campable area would be good.  We weren't sure we were allowed to camp there but could see a path where someone else had at some point.  Roadside camping with children can be a very bad and stressful thing.  As I said before, the port a john at the back of the family camping did not get cleaned the entire weekend we were there, I don't know if the truck couldn't get out to it or forgot about it but family camping areas need clean bathrooms.  More signage would be great, we ended up in family camping purely by accident and took some studying of the map to figure out where we were.  We did a lot of back tracking at night to get where we needed to go!

[mpullen]

Okay, part of my list to bring to the management meeting:

A. More signage; "This way to Faire". "This way to Showers". "Short-cut path to Faire". Very good idea. I intend to make illuminated signs for these and other directional/information signs. Solar powered lights are getting really cheap.

B. Cut a short-cut path from the Family/Quiet Campgrounds to the road into Faire. I'll discuss with the two clans who are on the shortest path and ask them to make a wide pathway for campers.

C. Water/showers in General/Open campgrounds. This is a tough one. Presently, the Faire water-main from the supply is small (think about 1" pipe). Water is presently piped to two holding tanks (one by the main gate and the other by the Castle). These holding tanks are very large and get filled during low demand periods. For anyone with fluid flow theory learning, adding a line (about 2000 ft) into the General/Open campgrounds would result in very low flow. We will have to replace all the water piping with much larger lines. Not impossible, but expensive.

[Lord Virgo]

My only request for general camping is that we be able to enter earlier than noon like you can at TRF.  This way we can enjoy our camp set ups for the whole day instead of just the late afternoon.  Just my two pence.

[JackGonzo, MD]

Random thought I just had, maybe a giant wooden sign when you check in that has a map of the campground? I know people get the paper when they arrive but many arrive late Friday night and can sometimes be difficult to read in the car. A big sign that has some illumination and a You Are Here, Clan, General etc will help people not get as lost as much? Maybe even put the clans on it as well? Just an idea

[mpullen]

Random thought I just had, maybe a giant wooden sign when you check in that has a map of the campground? I know people get the paper when they arrive but many arrive late Friday night and can sometimes be difficult to read in the car. A big sign that has some illumination and a You Are Here, Clan, General etc will help people not get as lost as much? Maybe even put the clans on it as well? Just an idea

Such a sign is posted at the campgrounds entrance, where the camping fees are collected. It's on the wall of the building and is illuminated.

I've posted that for the past two years.