Folks, I have made the final decision to NOT host the NorCal Sprinter Campout this year 2021.
Apologies to string the thread along, but I worked the angles from a cup-half-full solution focused approach as long as possible.
Bay Delta Resort has been accommodating offering to take us in...but there is a catch. There is a large event already scheduled, Camp Tiny House and a Farmer's Market. We have been offered to come in for free and camp as an 'exhibit' in exchange for having the rigs open for show during the two day event. There is currently 2300 listed as 'interested' and 290 'going'. There will be Tiny House related vendors, and schoolies and other rigs who are welcome at no cost...so long as they exhibit.
I thought long and hard about this. The first offer of a co-mingled event was presented to me early 2020 and I opted out hoping for a dedicated weekend for a Spring NCSC. We checked the place out camping a couple nights on the way back from Big Sur. Then the lockdown. Bay Delta Resort is a nice facility in a picturesque setting on the mighty San Joaquin River, with great bathrooms, a recreation room, tennis courts, boat docks over the levee, and other marinas for food and a cold beverage nearby.
Most of us enjoy a bit of Sprinter show-and-tell, talking to wanna-buys and swapping tales from the road. But the NorCal Sprinter Campout has traditionally been focused on the owners, the end-users, sharing their rigs, old and new, DIY and factory builds and stories with one another in the simple context of a reserved campground for us to spread out, mill around, relax and do our camping thing. In this case, we would be sharing the facility with hundreds of attendees, along with the dozens of full-timers and the general public milling about our open house rigs.
The dynamics of a comingled event as a side show attraction, not being able to utilize the facilities in full, and have a straightforward interface with management poses too many potential caveats at this juncture. I can't thank BDR enough for offering up this potential solution. Many decades working events...and boondock camping...has taught me to follow the gut feeling. I'm not convinced this would be a pleasant, and relatively comfortable experience on par with past campouts and our mission "An Informal Get-Together with Sprinter RVs and Similar Vehicles"
We will certainly miss you all. Best, Dale and Karen
Anybody is welcome to attend Bay Delta Marina's Camp Tiny House no cost showing your rig. Vendors are welcome for a fee as well.
https://www.facebook.com/events/406863853491743