Covid-Safe USA Nail Event Proves Huge Success

Running successfully for 10 years now, the Nail Camp events, organised in the USA by Jessica Briarmoon, have been a mecca for techs that desire a four-day break that’s all about – nails.

For 2020, the April-scheduled event was moved just two weeks before being held when Maryland was locked down. “The original date for Nail Camp East was in April 2020. Then Covid hit, however, even in mid-March I was planning on hosting it as normal and had about 100 attendees; then Maryland shut down,” reveals Jessica Briarmoon. “Fortunately, a Korean church group cancelled their event in August due to many of the members flying back to Korea. This presented the space and date I needed to move the event to.  I’ve never had to replan an event before and so kept holding my breath and hoping the governor of Maryland wouldn’t do a shut down of events again. Everyone who’d signed up was anxious to get back into the world of nails, take classes and spend some time with each other.

“As an event organiser it was very difficult for me to deal with cancelling the first event because everyone who couldn’t make the original event wanted a refund,” laments Jessica. “However, by that point, the money had gone to the facility and it was not in a position to refund every event that had to be postponed. It was a juggling act made worse by the fact that event insurance does not cover cancellations due to Covid-19. So it was a stressful time for me. In the end I had about a third of attendees cancel for the august date due to kids starting school, weddings, babies being born and some that were not happy to travel.  I’m pleased that even though I lost so many registrations, I had new people sign up because the April date didn’t work for them but August did!  In the end I had 95 registered and 88 walked through the door for registration. A few people, like the lovely Katie Barnes from the UK couldn’t make it because the borders are still closed. Last year Nail Camp East had exactly 100, so just a little less is a great turn out considering the current Covid crisis.

“All attendees get excited to receive their gift bags. However, the Covid crisis meant many of our favourite sponsors didn’t have the staff on hand to send out shipments for the bags. So many sent more raffle prizes  instead, because they didn’t have the manpower or access to samples.  Because of this, I’m keeping all the sponsors on the website this year as a thank you for their support. I want to make sure they are recognised and their links kept live up to help promote their products throughout the year.
“The next Nail Camp is to be held in April 2021.  I expect 125 at the original location of Vashon Island, Washington. There is still space to join and people can sign up for this event by visiting http://www.nailcamp.org/nail-camp-west-registration/.   I limit camp to 125 to keep it a close community, which makes the camp special.”

Next Nail Camp
Nail Camp West re-scheduled for 9-12 April 2021