Fluffy Fort: a Community Experience
Our community is full of amazing individuals. From performers to artists to DJs to coaches and community builders, we want to share your unique stories and experiences. If you’re interested in sharing your story, please shoot an email to Simone at sokkels@gmail.com.
Most pillow forts don’t take up the whole house. Or have multiple stories, an overarching narrative, or a submarine. When you roam through the Fluffy Fort, you start to feel your inner child giggle and guide you. Behind a blanket wall, someone is serving steaming hot tea, in a corner a pile of friends are giggling all limbs and smiles and excitement, but you hear rumors of secret rooms that only emerge if you dare peer in places you wouldn’t expect.
It’s a choose your own adventure in pajamas surrounded by squish and fluff and everyone is their own main character. Like many of the Community Experiences at Come Together Campout, the Fluffy Fort (created by Opus, Sippy, Heartbeat, Gibbon, Emerald, Luna, Lux, and Sundance, collectively known as FBOMB) has a unique history, so we sat down with two of the creators, Heartbeat and Opus, to discover more.
Crafting a community
From the first Fort of July party in Opus and Sippy’s Los Angeles living room in 2014, the FBOMB Fluffy Fort has grown into not just a yearly event, but an extended polycule and community built around the full house, indoor/outdoor labyrinth of blankets and pillows and hidden rooms and rich designs.
Over the years the core group expanded to an 8-person polycule including not just Opus, Sippy, and Heartbeat, but Gibbon, Emerald, Luna, Lux, and Sundance. Friends brought friends, eventually evolving into and week of building and two days of partying with guest list spots - an invitation to join the whimsical wonderland - a coveted prize.
“We are the community, and we’re building the community - when we add new people, we suggest ‘you should help us build,’ and then they feel comfortable, not like a stranger. That is really vital to us.” Builders plan intricate rooms and performances for months and then figure out how to nestle them into the maze of tiny nooks.”
Huh…could you take this on the road?
“When we heard about plans for Come Together,” said Heartbeat, “we thought ‘here are some of our closest friends throwing a festival,’ and we’re like ‘…huh…could you take this on the road?’”
Aside from logistical changes, the builders wanted to adapt the experience to the new setting. With play spaces all around them, the Fluffy Fort became a close, intimate but explicitly non-sexual (and shoe free!) space.
Opus loved that:
“The fort space was a really excellent counterpoint to the play space…because it’s a low expectation conversational space….So people will actually bring a new person they’ve met…Hey, I just met you, I think you’re really cool, I want to have a conversation with you, let’s go to the Fort, have you been?”
while Heartbeat added,
“We’re hoping that people are gonna play (but not like that!)…one of my favorite moments …we had this whole group playing make-belief and roasting s’mores on a foam fire!”
At this year’s CTC, FBOMB is bringing some exciting new additions to the experience. The team is working hard to create a space where campers can let their guard down and be transported to an intimate world of connections, fun, and serendipity.
Deeper in the Fort
The Fort is a multi-room, multi-sensory experience that takes visitors on a self guided journey. At the beginning, everyone is welcome to move about and find their favorite spots and a few hours into the party a ceremony collects everyone and the truly shared experience begins.
Inside the Fort, you'll find yourself in a world that feels both familiar and otherworldly.
Each room has a unique theme, from cozy living rooms to forests, arctic tundras, multilevel submarine rooms and dance floors. You can crawl through tunnels, snuggle up in a nook with a book, or join in a pillow fight with strangers who will soon become friends.
The Fort is more than just a fun and playful experience; it's a space where people can connect with each other on a deeper level. People have brought ramen to share, played Magic the Gathering, pretend roasted marshmallows and even found love. In a world that often feels divided and disconnected, the Fort is a reminder that we all have a childlike sense of wonder and playfulness within us that can bring us together.
Bring your experience
Experiences like the Fluffy Fort are built by the CTC community, and we love to support the creativity and expression they bring. If you have an installation, experience, or art you’d like to bring, we want to help you with the resources to enable that! Drop your info here and let’s get started!
