Each year, the Annual Firefly Gathering brings together hundreds of skilled instructors, artists, musicians, speakers and thinkers. Why? Outside of finding your deep connection with nature and identifying Earthskills to explore and possibly master, Firefly Gathering is a place to create community. You might be in class or on a nature walk and you’ll find connection with a being. You could be standing in line for the restroom and find yourself in deep conversation with your soul twin; or you could choose to visit one of Firefly’s spaces developed intentionally for supporting rest and connection for the unique experiences of women, men, LGBTQIA+, and people of the global majority at The Neighborhood.
The Neighborhood is a community of identity-based spaces where every body can find solitude and a place to belong. Identity-based spaces can provide the safety, solidarity and affirmation that folks need to heal cultural and personal wounds. They create the container for community members to cross-pollinate ideas about shared identity in ways that they might not feel safe to do otherwise. For some, The Neighborhood is a de-shaming space; for others it is a respite from the constant confrontation of being othered. However you spin it, the Neighborhood is for everyone. It’s a place for people to challenge ideas around identity consensus and to feel accepted and held exactly as they are.
Four camps make up The Neighborhood, with its designated groups specifically in mind: PGM Camp (People of the Global Majority or BIPOC Camp), STAR Camp (LGBTQIA+ Camp), MOON Camp, (or the sisterhood of women and femme identifying beings), and finally, SUN Camp (dedicated to cis, trans, straight, and queer men of all ages and sensibilities). Learn more about each camp below!
PGM Camp
The People of the Global Majority (PGM) Camp explores and prioritizes creating a space for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, African, Asian, and Latinx people during the event to belong, share, rest, and nurture your truest selves’ roots, branches, and new growth with folks sewn from similar seeds. By extension, PGM Camp is here to help any person seeking to reconnect to their ancestral roots and the history of the land we exist on.
PGM Camp is a generally closed container reserved for identifying folks and includes parents of multiracial children, partners of BIPOC, select few close allies and volunteer help, etc. with consent from the group. We aim to integrate Indigenous knowledge back into our society and work towards healing ancestral trauma, and welcome community collaborations. If you don’t know much about your roots for any reason, or only semi-identify or are unsure, please still come join the conversation with an open heart and let’s create a sustainable culture together.
PGM Camp centers the voices and experiences of those who have been historically silenced & forcefully disconnected from their lands and culture, during what we openly recognize to be a majorly white-led event, community and society.
When the space is open to all, we ask that you enter with respect and, if you feel comfortable to, please acknowledge any of the privileges you may have in regards to the color of your skin, where you grew up, your access to land, money, etc. We may discuss hard histories or tell empowering stories of resistance and resiliency. Or we may rest as an act of resistance. Come share your story, your culture, food and resources.
STAR Camp
Lovingly nicknamed Queer Camp, STAR Camp is a welcoming and inclusive space for folks with gender expressions and sexual orientations that fall outside of the mainstream including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Nonbinary, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Pansexual, Two-Spirited, and Asexual folks. We realize that gender and sexuality are social constructs, and that they have real impacts on many of us and the way we live and connect with one another. Queer people, especially trans folks, have been under terrible attack in recent years, in particular in the South. Therefore, we have created a space where folx can feel safer and seen at STAR Camp.
Our intention at STAR Camp is to continue the conversation about what safer spaces mean in community as we navigate our ever-shifting world of bodily autonomy and inclusion. By hosting STAR Camp, we invite attendees to a cozy space to gather and commune through facilitated and impromptu conversations, discussions, shared meals, tea time, fireside heart circles, and other offerings and classes.
MOON Camp
All women and femme identifying individuals are welcome to our sisterhood of straight, queer, trans, and cis women in all our glorious shapes, colors and ages. At Moon Camp, we ponder what it means to howl at the moon while Earth’s energy comes up through our feet. We celebrate the intuition and strength of the women who came before us. We commune around the mysterious churn of new life and the rich soil of the feminine. Let’s find answers together through ritual, prayer, archetype, movement and rest, and free womanhood of her unwanted constraints.
SUN Camp
SUN Camp welcomes cis, trans, straight, and queer men sharing the honor to contribute to safer spaces for the beings who embody the infinite variety of masculine identities. As there are as many types of maleness as there are men, SUN Camp encourages the Sons, the Brothers, the Fathers, the Uncles, Grandfathers, and the Transcestors to bring your unique, creative expression of masculinity into the space while we witness one another in our strength and power. SUN Camp is a place to relax, share stories around the fire, and take part in a host of offerings. We look forward to meeting you.
The Neighborhood Block Party

To some, the Block Party is the highlight of Firefly Gathering’s nighttime experience. The Block Party is a collaboration of all of The Neighborhood Camps that brings people together to share multicultural stories, foods and music to build a strong and diverse community – and have fun while doing it! Join us for dance classes, food from around the world, games, a group playlist and dance party, and more Friday night in The Barn! See our full Evening Schedule here.
Attendees of the Firefly Gathering are welcome to engage with The Neighborhood by attending events offered for your relevant identities, or those events with open invitations for allies. You can also swing by your corresponding camps at any time to enjoy a casual hangout or just a quiet place to have some tea and rest. In the evenings, folks will often be hanging out around a fire. As you engage with The Neighborhood, we ask you to remember that kindness is a vital part of interacting at Firefly anytime, and is essential at our Neighborhood Camps. We do not discriminate or use other words/actions that lead to folks feeling unwelcome, unsafe, or disconnected from the community, where we all belong. Learn more about our Social Agreements, Accountability Policies, and Incident Report Form.
During our time together at Firefly Gathering, these spaces of refuge and communion help us all show up in more present and alive ways in the larger community. They encourage us to be better stewards of ourselves, our beloveds, and the Earth, and they act as an important part of the social ecology of co-creating community. As we learn to thrive across differences, we further strengthen and nurture our shared futures. We can’t wait to see you this July!