Final paid registration for the 2024 DSSG (#42) was 47, on par with last year's 48. As has happened the past few years some did elect to come early based upon the weather, some as early as Friday October 25th. That is ok as long as it is cleared in advance with Carol at White Horse and it certainly helps her. Moving forward that none should assume it is ok unless cleared first and none should do any bunk or bunk house switching from assignments already made. We should have all bunk assignments made prior to any early arrival.
Please note too as has been spelled out in earlier posts on the DSSG message board - as we do, every year, that we have an early registration price cut off date and after that date the registration fee does go up. Additionally, after a certain date, registration fees and accommodation fees are not refundable. Why is that? Registration fees go into, for the most part, to buy our door prizes for the event and the accommodation reservations are communicated to Carol for the event. What we do is typical of all other star parties nationwide.
Having said this, the following is what I recommend that all do when considering what you want to do at the DSSG in respect to the dates you are planning on attending -
ONLY PAY FOR A FEW DAYS UP FRONT, BE FLEXIBLE. IF YOU THINK YOU WILL BE STAYING FOR THE DURATION, 5 NIGHTS, JUST PAY FOR A FEW NIGHTS UP FRONT. IF IN A BUNK, THIS WILL LOCK IN YOUR BUNK SPACE. IT WILL NOT BE USED BY ANYONE ELSE DURING THE DSSG OR THE SPRING SCRIMMAGE. LET'S SAY YOU REGISTER AND RESERVE FOR THE FIRST TWO NIGHTS BUT THOSE NIGHTS TURN OUT TO BE LOOKING BAD WEATHER WISE, YOU CAN DELAY YOUR ARRIVAL. IF YOU REGISTER FOR JUST ONE OR TWO NIGHTS BUT IF THE WEATHER IS LOOKING GOOD BEYOND THAT, YOU CAN ADD NIGHTS. IF YOU WANT TO STAY LONGER YOU CAN. YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY FOR THOSE ADDITIONAL NIGHTS ON SITE. IF YOU LOSE ANYTHING IF YOU DECIDE YOU WILL BE A NO-SHOW AFTER THE REFUND CUT-OFF DATE, YOU WILL NOT "LOSE" AS MUCH. I HOPE WHAT I AM SAYING IS CLEAR, IF NOT, ASK.
At the DSSG this year we decided to do something a bit differently with dates for the 2025 DSSG. The "new Moon" time frame falls awkwardly in that we either start pretty early (10/14 thru 10/19/25) or we start a bit late (11/18 thru 11/23/25). After talking about it with other long time attendees, the November dates seemed best but we are tweaking that too. So next year, instead of starting "officially" on a Tuesday, we will start on a Saturday ending on a Thursday with the official nights for 2025 being 11/15 to 11/20/25. This has the DSSG ending a full week before Thanksgiving and not just 3 or 4 days before.
For those interested in the Spring Scrimmage dates for 2025, those dates are April 4/23/25 and ending on 4/27/25 with the traditional Wednesday and Sunday start and end dates.
Barry Simon, Director
DSSG