REGISTration for Farm camp 2025

***Registration is not open yet!!*** Registration will open Wednesday, March 26 at 10 am***

The Sponsor-a-Camper program has ended for this year. Thank you sponsors!!!

Common Ground’s 2025 Scholarship Application is now available. Please visit this link for more information and to apply.

Important Registration Changes for 2025

We are dreaming of sunny days, hiking, playing, fishing, and cherry-tomato-picking! In the interest of keeping the joy of summer camp at the forefront, we at Common Ground are making changes to our registration process. We have heard your feedback, and recognize your frustrations around securing summer programming in a stressful and competitive registration process. We hope these changes will help humanize and individualize the process for our families as we work together to create  a summer of nature and fun for your kids.

What You Need to Know

On March 26 at 10am, a link to a Queue Registration Form will appear on our website. Fill out this form, one per family, to secure a place in line for our registration process. Once you have secured a spot in the Queue, every other step will occur through email. These emails are sent by a human (they are not automated) and we appreciate your patience. 

Once the Registration Queue is established, we anticipate that we will be able to send follow up Registration Emails with further instructions according to the following schedule:

1. Numbers 1-20 March 26 at noon until March 27 at 11am

2. Numbers 21-40 March 27 at noon until March 28 at 11 am 

3. Numbers 41-60 March 31 at noon until April 1 at 11 am

4. Numbers 61-80 April 1 at noon until April 2 at 11 am

5. Numbers 81-100 April 2 at noon until April 3 at 11 am

6. Numbers 100+ April 3 at noon

7. If there are a significant number of additional families, we will assign more numbers and dates in the future.

The Three Registration Steps:

1. Fill out the Queue Registration Form (available beginning at 10 AM on March 26). After submitting this form, you will receive an email titled “You Have Joined the Queue for Camp Registration.”  This email will provide your registration window- the specific date and time that you will be able to register. 

2. At the start of your registration window, you will receive another email titled, “Your Registration Time is Here!” This email will contain a link to register in the store on our website, a link to the online form, and a registration password. You will then have 23 hours to complete your registration, along with 19 other families who are in the same registration window.  After this time, your registration window will close.  Please be ready with the following information:

   1. Payment

   2. Registration Information

   3. Camper Health and Immunization Forms

3. At this point, you will receive an email titled “You have Completed Registration!” confirming that you have completed all required steps of registration OR you will receive an email titled “Almost There! Missing Farm Camp Information Needed!” if you are missing any piece of information required.

All camp spots are subject to a non-refundable deposit of $75 per child, per week registered, if the refund is requested prior to May 15. After May 15, refunds will only be given in the event of emergencies.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why Are We Changing Our Process?

We at Common Ground Farm acknowledge that access to quality summer programming in the Beacon and surrounding communities over the past few years has become unsustainably–and unpleasantly–competitive. We have heard your feedback, and recognize your frustrations around securing summer programming for your kids. While we cannot solve the childcare shortage ourselves, or achieve a perfect model of equity and accessibility, we can slow down the process, to take the stress out of registering for our camp. We appreciate your understanding as we update our  system in an effort to make our registration process more inclusive and less frantic.

2. How does the Queue Registration Form address the stress surrounding camp registration?

Camp registration will be competitive and stressful no matter what we do. By making the Queue Registration Form quick and simple, it will even the playing field by making the competitive portion of the process the same for everyone. Parents of multiple children will not have the disadvantage of trying to quickly select and purchase many different options at once. Members of the community who cannot afford to purchase camp tuition all at once will be able to secure a competitive place in line while still having access to alternative payment options such as full and partial scholarships, and payment plans.  And no one will be required to make purchase decisions in a matter of seconds. Each family will have 23 hours to complete their registration after following the steps outlined above and receiving their email titled “Your Registration Time is Here!” This ensures that families have enough time to make thoughtful purchase decisions together.. We hope that this new process will slow down and reduce the stress of  the registration experience for our families.

3. How does this new process increase accessibility to Farm Camp?

Many families have provided feedback that our previous process, which required purchasing camp weeks in full on registration day, was inaccessible for families who cannot afford to make a purchase of that size all at once. By slowing down and individualizing the registration process, we can accommodate families who may need access to a payment plan or a full or partial scholarship, without excluding them immediately due to the competitive nature of camp registration in our community right now.

4. Why is there a 23 hour limit to complete registration?

We know that families are anxious to secure their summer plans, so we would like to move families through this process as quickly as is reasonably possible, while still allowing families flexibility to complete each step. 

We are placing a 23 hour limit on completion of this form so that we can quickly move forward with the next families on the list.

5. What happens if we miss the deadlines?

If you do not complete registration within 23 hours of receiving the “Your Registration Time is Here!” email,  then we will not be able to hold your place in the queue. If either this deadline is missed, you can rejoin the queue by starting over at step 1 and completing the Queue Registration Form again.

6. How will this process affect the Waiting List for camp weeks?

Since all families will already have a place in the Queue, the waiting list will already have a generated order. When a spot opens up in a camp week, the first person on the list will receive an email informing them of that spot, and will have 23 hours to respond with a purchase.

7. I have a unique situation regarding the Camper Health and Immunization Forms. What should I do?

Proceed with the registration process as normal. The Camper Health and Immunization Forms (and/or exemption letter) must be completed prior to attending camp; any camper who does not have these forms (and/or an exemption letter) on file cannot attend camp according to the New York State Department of Health. 

8. What if I want to cancel a camp week after I have purchased it?

You can cancel registration for a camp week by responding to the “You Have Completed Registration” email.  All camp spots are subject to a non-refundable deposit of $75 per child, per week registered, if the refund is requested prior to May 15. After May 15, refunds will only be given in the event of emergencies. We hope that by slowing down the rush of our registration process, families will be able to carefully consider their commitments before purchasing.