Brian & I both love a good party. And it seemed between a week of planned parties and the chance to meet some other like-minded folks we were in for a treat attending Xscaper’s Las Vegas Convergence. When we signed up for the event at the beginning of August, there was room only for RVs 25-feet or smaller. At 45-feet, we would not be able to park with the rest of the group. We chose to purchase tickets to attend the event(s) anyway. We reserved parking space at Main Street Station RV Park, the closest RV park to the Llama Lot, where the others would be dry camping.
Xscapers did a great job of communicating about the event and creating a sense of community in advance. Not long after we signed up for the event, a closed Facebook group was set up and available for anyone attending the event to join. A month before the event, an email with some additional information set expectations for the upcoming week, including additional details like suggested dress and general timing of daily events. Two weeks before, a Facebook Messenger Chat was set up. Although after the first hour or two of frequent notifications, I decided to mute the conversation until a later date. An app for the event with functions for calendar, impromptu event set-up, attendees, staff, FAQs, etc. was announced in the days before the event began. Not knowing anyone and unsure of what we were heading into, we mostly “watched” from the sidelines, shopped for Halloween costumes, and anticipated meeting many new people.
Based on a slew of messages in the Chat, many people arrived in Las Vegas a week ahead of the Convergence, and even more arrived a day or two before the event officially began on Sunday, October 27th. Hindsight being 20/20, we would have come at least the day before. Instead, we arrived at Main Street Station RV Park mid-afternoon. Quickly, we hooked up sewer, water, & electric, checked-in at the front desk of the hotel, ate a quick lunch at the casino’s brewpub, secured bikes to our rig, changed clothes, and took an Uber to the Llama Lot.
We easily found the group and helped ourselves to nametags. J.P., Xscapers convergence director, welcomed us soon after. He apologized that there wasn’t space for us when we signed up. With this being the first time for the group in Las Vegas, lot size wasn’t completely clear. Now that those who signed up for onsite tickets were parked, we were welcome to join them. With a paid full hook-up site at Main Street Station RV, we decided to stay where we were until Friday late afternoon when we would have time to move.
Like kids in a new school district on the first day of school, we wandered around the parking lot amongst the group for a bit. J.P. got everyone’s attention. After reviewing the “rules” (there weren’t many), he asked first-time convergence attendees to introduce themselves to the group. In the group of about 100-110, about 30 of us were first-timers. With introductions complete, he announced that the group would depart for the evening’s planned bar crawl 30-40 minutes later. Brian & I went across the street to get ourselves a beer while others attended to their campsites or made themselves one for the road.
And so the first event of a seven-night stretch began. The Sunday night bar crawl was followed by Tiki night on Monday with another bar visited. We spent Tuesday, the “free night” having Happy Hour margaritas with many people from the group and then dinner with two of our new friends. Wednesday night included a Halloween costume parade for dogs. Sliders, hot dogs, and a bar were provided in the parking lot while a DJ played music. Thursday night, Halloween, had us meeting for Xscapers costume contest in the parking lot. A group walk down Fremont Street ended in a local bar for the “biggest Halloween party in downtown Las Vegas.” Friday night had us at a local bar for drinks, line-dancing lessons, and country music. And Saturday night’s farewell dinner included a five-course dinner with wines paired with each course followed by dancing. Even having spent twenty-five years in the wine business attending many events like this, I can say that it was a very nice dinner.
Would I say that the ticket price was worth it? Absolutely! Not including fees for camping, the seven-night event cost the two of us $300 (it would have been $350 for onsite tickets for two of us). We spent additional money on drinks and food, but I’m quite sure that we would have spent at least $300 on the things included in our ticket price. We likely would have spent $200 on the dinner Saturday night alone. Plus, we got to meet many new people, some of who we are sure to meet up with again on the road.
Would I go to another Xscapers event? Absolutely! We already plan to be in Quartzsite over New Year’s and will hope to connect with other Xscapers to ring in 2020. And we have signed up for the convergence in March in Casa Grande, Arizona. I’m sure that this will be a much different experience from the urban setting of downtown Las Vegas because of the location, but also because we will be camping with the others.
We’ve been on the road for five or six months now with minimal social interaction. Xscapers has helped us connect both at this convergence and in our regular travels (READ MORE). We are happy to have met the people that we’ve met through this community and look forward to connecting again and meeting others down the road.
4 Replies to “Las Vegas Halloween Convergence”
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Hey Anne, nice beard and stash. How long did it take you to grow it?
Deb Gurney
Great movie and perfect costumes! You two should have won! Fun fact: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) was performed by Kenny Rogers and the New Edition.
Happy you two are having a great time in your travels … love reading all about the adventures 😊❤️🥰