Wow, I really can’t believe that we’re all the way through July! Once we hit this point in the summer season, the rest of it always just seems to fly by at an incredible pace. At this rate, Labor Day weekend will be here in the blink of an eye—and of course that means Sundance! As this issue goes to press, we have been hard at work signing up Hosts and Sponsors for the event, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who has joined forces with us to make this extraordinary event happen once again.
All year long we’ve been talking about the fact that the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center is closed for construction, which means that Sundance, like all the other events that take place there, has had to find a new home for 2016. As we announced several months ago, Sundance 2016 will take place in the atrium of the Rehoboth Mall. That space is not without its challenges, but we are very excited to be in a place with so many possibilities. The actual atrium in the Mall is larger than the Convention Center—and that doesn’t even include the massive hallway space and empty stores available to us in the building. Check out some of the “before” mall photos on page 26, then imagine what it will look like when Murray and Paul Turner and all our Sundance Team Captains and their crews have finished with the decorations and lights. For two nights only, it will be the biggest nightclub in the area, so don’t miss it! For those concerned about transportation, both in and out of Rehoboth, we will have buses available throughout the night of the dance.
The annual elections for Rehoboth Beach City Commissioners takes place on August 13 from 10-6 p.m. Because the City Hall complex is under construction, the 2016 elections will take place at the Rehoboth Fire Department next door to the Convention Center. Absentee ballots are available. August 9 is the last day the City will mail ballots. In this issue of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth all three candidates for City Commissioner, incumbents Stan Mills and Toni Sharp, and challenger Rick Perry, have answered some questions of interest to our readers for our annual CAMP Rehoboth Candidate Forum (see page 44). Thank you to all the candidates for participating in the forum—and for taking part in the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners-CAMP Rehoboth Forum held at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center on July 22.
Sundance may be the biggest event of the summer, but CAMP Rehoboth has a few more intimate ones on the calendar in the next few weeks. On August 5, the CAMP Rehoboth Women’s FEST team is importing comics Jennie McNulty and Lisa Koch for two shows only, at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. The 7 p.m. show is already sold out, and the 9 p.m. one is getting close. Then on Sunday, August 7 the bachelors (and even a bachelorette) are back for the always fun CAMP Rehoboth Bachelor Auction at Aqua Grill. Our favorite auctioneer Lorne Crawford returns to get the crowd in a bidding mood. Right after Sundance weekend, on September 8, the CAMP Rehoboth FEST team is back for another round of laughs with comic Dana Goldberg: two shows only, 7 and 9 p.m. Tickets are available on the CAMP Rehoboth website.
Thanks to CAMP Rehoboth’s health services director Sal Seeley, and his volunteers there are a wide range of CAMP Rehoboth groups meeting this summer. The Young Adult group (ages 18-30) meets monthly; for those over 50, Silver Pride meets monthly at the Community Center; and Trans-talk—not meeting in August; next meeting will be in September. The Men’s Discussion Group is every other Wednesday at Epworth United Methodist Church, and Women’s Coffee Talk is every other Saturday morning at the Community Center. Other current groups include: Parents of Transgender Children Discussion Group, Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Group, AA—both a step meeting and a Sunday morning spiritual meeting, NA, and a Sunday meditation group.