Hi everyone! Firefly has just begun work on a major construction and earthwork project which will affect the land and the event for many years to come. Planning for this project has been in the works for several years, and has had major contributions from many Core, Cluster, and Event leads, longstanding DPW members, all the relevant landowners, as well as present and past members of the Board of Directors. The project will widen Innerstate Interstate, which runs from the field near Upper Parking to the top of the hill near Diode, install a large culvert at the stream crossing including a large earthwork bridge to traverse the stream, and regrade the nearby entrance to the woods to allow for vehicle traffic. We will also add some pull-off areas for vehicles along this road, along with some additional work to the road itself to help with drainage and water management. The goal is to create a “ring road:” a road where traffic can move freely in one direction that forms a circle around Firefly, instead of the same road handling only two-way traffic. This will not only make loading and unloading much easier for anyone in a vehicle, but will relieve an enormous amount of volunteer and managerial labor to address all the potential hazards of having only two-way traffic on a very narrow road, not to mention strain on the roads themselves. We strongly believe this will make Arrival and Exodus much faster, safer, and easier which may enable for more art and infrastructure in the future, and make areas of the event much more accessible for anyone who wishes to attend. With this project, we believe Firefly is set on a path which will allow the event to grow, allow for more event accessibility, better toilet solutions in the future, and to better facilitate a great Firefly experience that we all work to build together. This improvement is also quite expensive! We’re spending about $81k to make the ring road possible as a resource for Firefly this year and for years to come. Our overall spend this year on Firefly operations including the ring road far surpasses the income we will see this year from Firefly ticket sales. Our cash reserves are running low, and may affect ticket contributions in the future without any fundraising effort. Please reach out if you are interested in helping to organize fundraising, and If would like and are able to make a donation to Firefly to help us keep the event affordable you may do so at this link: https://www.fireflyartscollective.org/firefly-arts-collective/donate/ Thanks, and we’ll see you in the woods!