• Is this a festival or a group of friends? A rave or a sit-around-the-fire type thing? At ~350 people, it’s a group of friends, but we’re making it whatever we want it to be. The speakers are pretty good, but this isn’t a rave. Loud, but not too loud. There is also plenty of space to camp far away if you would like to sleep in peace! Think big houseparty. Bring the party you want to see. 

• Something Else is a do-ocracy. Whether it's through volunteering to work or contributing art, food, or music, this is a highly-participatory event and we welcome and encourage you to get involved and bring the fun you wish to see at the campout.

Food & Kitchen

• Volunteer teams in the indoor commercial Staff Kitchen produce first-come, first-served community meals at brunch and dinner, targeted to feed about half of participants. We also host food vendors, so bring cash!

• Want to lead a community meal? Fill out the meal form with your ideas! Want to help produce a community meal? Fill out the volunteer form.

• We provide an outdoor Citizen Kitchen with tables, shade, and a washing station where you can set up your stove and get cookin' fire-safely. Throughout the campground, wooden picnic tables abound for personal food prep and consumption.

• Ice is available on the property.

• Bring your own equipment, but note that anything that uses fire can only be used in the paved Citizen Kitchen. Camp stoves can only be used on top of a picnic table - never on the ground. Like most of Northern California, this idyllic forest is ready to burst into flames, so please avoid that at all costs.

• You are encouraged to bring your own water. There are potable water stations maintained throughout the property but our reservoir water tastes "like a lake," so we recommend bringing Gatorade or Tang powder to improve the flavor.

• There is a town (Laytonville, CA) a 10-minute drive from Mendocino Magic with a full-size grocery store, hardware store/lumber yard, gas station, pharmacy, etc. if you need anything before or during the event. (Ins and outs are permitted.)

Art & Music

• If you’d like to propose an art/project/mystery thing, please submit an art form, even if your idea is still nebulous. We’d love to hear what you have in mind and how we can support! Art Grants are available. They could take the form of a discounted ticket or actual ca$hmoney. 

• Art doesn’t just mean the Mona Lisa or some crazy art car—anyone is capable of making art! We welcome your creativity in any form, be it a costume, a poem, illuminating a tree or a path and making it beautiful, throwing a party-within-a-party, or anything else that strikes your fancy. No fire art is allowed. Power is available in some areas (but bring your own cords).

• Music is welcome and encouraged. We have a great lineup scheduled, but we also have space and power for more. If you want to perform or DJ, please get in touch via the music form to coordinate. (Notes for DJ dinos: don't count on internet service, so bring your device with a playlist downloaded to it. There are neighbors, so music will have to be lower after midnight, and off at 2am.)

Safety & Consent

Something Else is a safe space for everyone to have fun together. We take participant safety seriously. We take consent seriously.

Consent is:

• Freely and enthusiastically given yet revocable at any time for any (or no) reason.

• Applies to all personal boundaries, both physical and verbal - whether in sexual or non-sexual situations

• FRIES—learn about FRIES here (video includes sound)

We have no tolerance for:

• Name calling, verbal abuse, bullying, hate speech.

• Physical abuse or harassment; hostile, aggressive, or threatening behavior.

• Sexual discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual abuse.

• Discrimination on the grounds of sexuality, race, religion, gender, disability, age or any other distinction.

• Stealing or any form of theft.

We have volunteers and staff on site dedicated to keeping the event safe. Our Raptors are based on rangers you might find at other events and can be identified by their hot pink suspenders and radios.

If you experience or witness an incident:

• Find a Raptor. They should be wandering the property at almost all hours. Anyone with a radio should be able to call you one.
  The Raptor will be able to record the incident, direct you to a safe space, and escalate to event leadership if necessary.

• Raptor HQ is a building behind the indoor kitchen (see map). It will have extra radios with which you can summon a Raptor and paper forms for reporting an incident.

• If you wish to report an incident electronically during or after the event, please fill out this form.

Please understand that the event organizers and Raptors are not police. We are humans who will do the best they can to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for all. We will listen, mediate, and deal consequences within our powers - up to ejecting participants from the event.

Other Rules | Notices | Consider Yourself Warned

• This is a Leave No Trace event. BYO trash bags. Pack out EVERYTHING you bring in. We also ask that you pick up any MOOP you may find.

• No styrofoam anywhere on the property (you will be fined!) 

• No glass at the lake.

• 🔥 No fire anywhere.🔥 It's fire season and the whole property is a tinderbox. Keep cooking to the central kitchen area.

• Is smoking allowed? Smoking is allowed on paved/dirt surfaces, in the paved central kitchen area, and the on the water only. Don't smoke anywhere around dry grass! Fire hazard. BYO ash tray.

• No dogs or other animals. Service animal? That’s different. Talk to us. 

• No public sex. Nudity is great. Public sex acts are not. We have kids around, and not every adult wants to see that either. If you're getting it on in an area where you can be seen by others, make sure you have their consent.

• Dress code: This is a clothing-optional event, but we don't allow glitter or moopy clothing or clothing with hate speech or symbols.

• Photography: Our ticketing agreement includes a photography release form. Photos taken by our official photographers may very well be used for future marketing purposes—if you do not want your image to be used in this way, please let us know.

• Social media policy: Get the consent of anyone identifiable in a photo or video before posting publicly (to a spot visible to people who did not attend the event).

• Nature is a thing: 

  • There is poison oak. Its leaves can be any color – red or green, and are often shiny and always come in threes. It often grows at ankle height around the lesser-used trails, but it's a climber and can be anywhere.

  • To protect the fish in the reservoir, please use mineral sunscreen instead of the regular variety. 

  • Expect mosquitoes in the evening plus ticks and chiggers in the brush. Avoid the brush and spray your bod with repellent and you should be just fine.

  • There are bears in the area, though they visit quite rarely. For this reason, put your food, deodorant, and anything else with an odor somewhere harder to smell or find at all times.

• No weapons of any kind. This includes firearms, air guns, swords, machetes, crossbows, or polearms. Water guns okay.

• Obey all posted signs and all staff requests.

• No renegades. We love music, so we schedule it for you! If you want to perform or DJ, please coordinate with us - we're happy to have it happen, but we need to respect both fellow party goers and the property's neighbors. Any renegade sound is subject to shutdown.

• Don't be an asshole.

• WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO EJECT YOU FROM THE PROPERTY WITH NO REFUND IF YOU ARE DEEMED TO BE IN VIOLATION OF THE RULES.

• You will be asked to sign a waiver to this effect before you enter the event.

Dino Flavor 🦕

Why dinosaurs? Dinosaurs come in all shapes and sizes. Some survive entirely by eating smaller dinosaurs! Others eat eggs or fluff.

Dinosaurs live in the woods and lakes and in the air. Many had feathers with bright colors on them. They probably danced and sang, because birds do and birds descend from dinosaurs. 

They also ruled the earth for hundreds of times longer than humans have, so that’s probably a good sign.

Ok, but why is dinosaurs the theme?

Because they live on the property and will eat us if we don’t make them the theme.