How to Prepare for Dirtybird Campout West 2018

By: Jodie Scarborough

In just about two months, I’ll be making my way back to my favorite festival, Dirtybird Campout West!  With this year comes the excitement of a brand new location (that just so happens to be practically in my hometown’s backyard) and with that comes new experiences! I’m sure that I still have a lot to learn myself, but when Ade asked me to come up with some tips and advice for first timers, I could not pass this up.  Anybody who knows me knows that I still talk about Campout at least once a week, and as it gets closer and closer, I’m sure I’ll be looking back at these tips myself to help prepare, so let’s get started campers!

Packing:

Of course you’re going to need to bring the usual camping festival supplies (tent, sleeping bag/air mattress, etc), but here’s a few things that really helped my group out last year:

• LOTS of battery powered lights to put around your campsite
• Head lamps (useful for night time walks to the port-a-potties)
• Warm clothes for night
• Light clothes and a swimsuit for the day
• Camper/scout uniform (it is summer camp after all!)
• Gifts to share with your neighbors

I’ll dive in on explaining all of this and more, but I just wanted to lay a little foundation on some items that might be overlooked while packing.

Essentials/Set up:

My overall number one tip for anybody who is going to or even considering going to Dirtybird Campout is to get early arrival!  Not only do you get prime choice of camping spots (it is free form camping, and people who arrived friday were struggling to find spots), but you get more time to explore the grounds and enjoy the special activities set up for early arrival campers!  Every year, there is a Thursday night pajama party in the campgrounds with some killer sets from the artists, and with Patrick Topping playing, this year will be no different.  It was also nice getting our entire camp set up and situated on Thursday, because on Friday we didn’t have to miss a second of the music.

Which brings me to my next tip: what the heck to bring!  I went in a group of about 8 people, some of which were DBC veterans, and I really liked some of the things that they did.  Our tents were arranged in a sort of semi-circle facing two EZ-Up tents that we had, to sort of create our own enclosed space.  One EZ-Up had all of our coolers and food (more on that later), and the other had chairs, tapestries, and even a rug on the ground to create a sort of lounge space.  Let me tell you, it was so nice having a space to chill during the day and whenever we took trips back to the campsite. We also had an extra tent separate from the ones we were all sleeping in, strictly used to store clothes and get ready in.  Considering how little space you have in a tent, and how messy things can get when getting ready, this was definitely a life saver.

Clothes:

First things first, it gets cold at night time.  Especially with the new location this year being right next to the water, I have no doubt it’ll be just as, if not more cold this year.  Make sure you bring warm clothes to change into at night time. My group set up our schedules so that we would come back to the campsite from the festival right around sunset, to take a break, eat dinner, and change!  Typically, I would wear leggings or clute flares, with either my dirtybird jacket or a fur coat. Just because you’re dressing warm and cozy doesn’t mean you can’t keep it cute! Another thing on warm clothes, bring a onesie!  Remember that early arrival pajama party I was talking about?  Everybody there shows up in their best onesies (I myself have a flying squirrel one), and even if you don’t do early arrival, the family set closing out the weekend is another time to show it off!

As far as daytime attire goes, there really are no rules.  Dirtybird is all about love and acceptance, so nobody will judge you for what you wear.  One thing that I do recommend, however, is either buying one of the camper shirts, or purchasing your own beforehand.  It is summer camp themed, and it is pretty fun getting to dress up and party in a scout uniform. Plus, counselors are watching all weekend and giving out special Dirtybird patches that you can add onto it!

For shoes, I 100% recommend comfort over style.  I wore my combat boots every single day, mainly because it was so dusty and some areas had high grass, but sneakers work fine, too.

Food & Drink:

As I mentioned earlier, the group that I went with did a lot of things on our trip that I really liked.  One of them being that we had one girl go to Costco and purchase food for breakfast and dinner and some snacks for the entire weekend, and we all just sent her money to cover it.  From there, we were sort of left to buy anything that we felt we couldn’t personally live without. This way, we didn’t have too much of one item and not enough of another, and everybody was happy.  

Drinks were definitely something that was left up to individual campers to purchase.  Obviously, we were all more than happy to share some vodka or a few beers with each other, but if there was anything specific that we wanted, it was on us to get it for ourselves.  Just be aware that glass is technically “not allowed”, although our cars were not searched at all last year, just something to make note of when packing your cars and potentially hiding anything.  As far as the festival goes, drinks are expensive inside, as with any festival. However, since there really is no security checkpoint from the campgrounds to the festival, we were able to bring any drinks in, as long as they were in a water bottle or solo cup.  The only time I ran into trouble was trying to bring a beer can in, but the same security guard didn’t stop me later that night when I brought in an entire wine bag.

I really do recommend that you purchase a BBQ meal ticket for Saturday or Sunday.  I mean, all of the food they serve inside of the festival is amazing, but nothing beats a home cooked, old-fashioned BBQ meal.  You get a plate filled to the brim with food, and its a Dirtybird tradition, so how could you pass it up?

Sets:

While I am a big fan of creating schedules for sets that you want to see at a festival and sticking to it, don’t be afraid to venture off a little bit and don’t worry too much about those schedules.  Some of the best sets that I saw at Campout last year were ones that I overlooked or had planned on seeing another artist during (hello Bleep Bloop and the Soulection Showcase), so I suggest picking a few artists that are absolutely 100% can not miss, and then just deciding in the moment the rest of the weekend.

Also, just because the festival ends, doesn’t mean the music does!  There are tons of renegade sets in the campgrounds every night that keep the party going until sunrise, and a lot of the artists check them out and play at them as well.  Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t sleep at all during Campout, because you should always listen to your body, but try and make it to at least one renegade set during the weekend.  They’re all so relaxed and unique, and you can make up for the sleep lost another time.

Activities:

By far one of my biggest regrets from Campout last year is that I didn’t participate in that many games or activities.  I mean, the entire premise of the festival is that its an adult summer camp, so why not get some use out of that? Plus this year there is going to be water games I mean, how exciting is that??  I will definitely be spending some more time on the activity fields this year, and if you’re going I highly suggest you do, too.

No matter what activities you participate in, though, try your best to not miss the comedy show.  Claude VonStroke himself curates the comedians, and he is always front row center for it. It’s a good break from all of the music to sit back and laugh with your friends, and it was definitely nice to enjoy the night and relax a little bit.  Plus, all of the comedians were hilarious!

Going off of that, take some time to check out a few of the activities at the Bunkhouse!  There’s games like late night bingo every night after the sets end and even lap dance musical chairs.  Even if you don’t participate, this is definitely something that you’ll want to see for at least a few minutes, people get really into it.

Extras:

One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t bring any gifts to share with my neighbors.  A lot of people had brought small trinkets to give out to people they met at DBC, and it really made the entire experience feel more close-knit.  One of my neighbors had a giant bag full of assorted lighters, and was handing them out saying “honestly, I probably stole this from you or someone you know at some point, so I’m just trying to restore my karma”, and it was a hilarious ice breaker.  Other people were handing out mini hands, googly eyes, disco ball necklaces, and other small gifts like that. It definitely doesn’t have to be anything big, but if you are able to bring some sort of present to share, it’s a great way to meet new people and make some friends!

Overall, my biggest piece of advice is just to be yourself and let go.  This weekend is so much fun and you don’t need to stress about what other people are thinking of you.  Just enjoy the moment and get as much out of it as you possibly can, because that’s what makes this festival so great.

See you all on the Reservoir!

Be sure to follow Jodie on social media: Twitter and Instagram.