Registration Tips and FAQ

Mark Your Calendar for March 15: When we switched from mail-in to online registration a few years ago, we were all shocked to discover that the time to sell out collapsed from 4-6 weeks to about a day. Technology makes the registrar’s job so much easier, but it also changes the pace at which things happen. We don’t want people to accidentally miss registration, so we open sales on the same date every year – March 15.  We remind folks that March 15 is coming up via our email list, our FB page, and announcements on the local pagan e-lists.  Did we mention that registration opens on *March 15* every year? Folks on our email list also get access to our Subscribers’ Presale on the morning of _March 15_.  You can sign up through the widget below – we will never share your info and we send very few emails throughout the year – although we will definitely send you one on March 15!

How Does Beltane Southwest Determine How Many Tickets To Sell? The site that we use has an occupancy limit that’s set by the US Forest Service based on a number of factors. We believe the USFS formula is something like , where the cube root of the Y axis’ flux capacitor mass is the amount of parking available and the tangent of the differential axionic transwarp acceleration is the capacity of the toilets on site. 😉  Whatever the real formula is, it’s the USFS’ best effort to protect our fragile high desert ecosystems from damage while still allowing us to use the site.  The current site limit is 350 people. Based on several years of attendance data, we know that we can expect about 50 folks a year to cancel/no-show, so instead of running a wait list (which is exhausting and makes it hard for folks on the list to plan), we oversell by 50 (so, we sell a total of 400 tickets) and call it good. Actual attendance has remained right around the 350 mark.

Why Don’t You Look For A Larger Site So That More People Can Attend? First, people with that same question have researched it nearly every year but have yet to come up another/better option. A larger site is often either much farther away from Albuquerque or significantly more expensive, and we have worked to keep this event as accessible and affordable as possible for the community.  Second, we believe that there is value to building a long-term relationship with the land we celebrate on. Our Maypole grew not far from the site and many people visit the site throughout the year for their private celebrations and rituals.  Third, a larger event would likely move Beltane Southwest from being a large but manageable volunteer effort to something requiring paid staff, which is really not a leap we want to take.

Why Are Tickets Nontransferable? Safety is one of our foremost concerns at Beltane Southwest.  Knowing who is coming helps us to address potentially dangerous situations (e.g., when one registrant has a restraining order against another registrant) BEFORE everyone shows up at the Gate.  It is also an unreasonably huge task to manually re-open registration 100+ times so that every transferor gets their refund and every transferee completes their liability waiver and emergency information.

Can My Kids Bring Their Friends?  If you are bringing someone else’s child with you to Beltane, you MUST bring a notarized Temporary Guardianship Form granting permission to authorize emergency medical care with you. Everyone attending with children is expected to remain on site and available in case of an emergency. If minor children are left at the festival without an adult holding a notarized power of attorney, Beltane Southwest will contact law enforcement and/or child welfare authorities and request that the children be taken into their care.

Where do I sign up for my service shift?  Once you are registered, you can sign up online for your community service shift.  Go to the Community Service Page to learn more about the shifts and sign up!