Wrapping Up a Season

The Never Tents are down and packed away. Every year I dread putting them up and every year I dread taking them down, it's a ton of work, a lot of pieces to keep track of, and somehow less room in the storage containers every year, but once it's done that's one big project checked off the list. This year it's been so sunny and dry we didn't even have to wait for them to dry out.

The rest of closing up is moving right along. The FEMAs are winterized, the water lines are blown out, the Never Tent furniture is wrapped and packed away, and volunteers showed up to get the firewood cut, split and stacked to carry us through New Year's Eve. The flower beds are another story, I'm way behind on those. We gave the lawn its last mow today, so next it's winterizing the mower, tuning up the snow blowers and moving the outdoor furniture into storage.

Every year we plan for the season ahead, and this year blew all of our preparations right out of the water. Y'all showed up, and that's exactly what gay spaces need if we're going to have any gay spaces left. And this year y'all SHOWED UP.

We have so much to be grateful for, and so much to look forward to.

And 2026 isn't over yet. We still have three big ones left: Halloween, October 30 through November 1, with the haunted shot crawl through the woods and the costume contest; the 6th Annual Fucked Up Holiday Party, November 19–22; and New Year's Eve weekend, December 30 through January 3, the last party of the season before we close for the winter.

Then there's next season, and there's a lot coming. First off, the biggest, most ambitious schedule we've ever put together, and you'll see all of it when it goes up on the website on December 15. We're also adding 20 new RV sites for next season, which means more room for seasonal campers, more sites for transient RV travelers, more community, and more fun.

We're growing the infrastructure too. The bathroom in the camping area is getting expanded, we're remodeling it to go from one stall to three, and the shower is moving outside, and not just moving, we're adding four more showers out there, so your morning routine is going to be a lot easier and you'll spend a lot less time waiting your turn.

And next summer the lawn and the Beer Garden are going to be filled with brand new furniture, thanks to everyone who gave to the TPL Social Club fundraisers this year. You raised over $10,000, and next year you'll get to sit on it.

We switched to being open only Fridays and Saturdays, but we haven't taken a day off yet. There's so much to do, and the weather has been too good to waste. Things are moving and growing around here.

While we work on next year's schedule, we're also building a communication hub to keep everyone up to date on what's happening now and what's happening next, with messages based on how you visit TPL, whether you're a seasonal camper, coming up for a weekend in a cabin, or stopping in for a day. If you haven't signed up for our emails yet, do it the next time you log into the website, that's the best way to make sure you hear it first.

Thank you for this season, for showing up, for bringing your friends, for splitting wood in the cold, for all of it. We'll see you at Halloween.