Inside Showcation’s Inventive Take on Community-Driven Festivals

6 days ago 11

Ahead of its third year, Showcation founder James Corcoran sheds light on the beginnings of the adult summer camp festival and what makes it unique.

Launched in 2024, Maryland festival Showcation has created a faithful community with its ambitious take on adult summer camp. Combining the delights of live music with comedians, camp activities, and one-of-a-kind experiences, the emerging event lets attendees take control of their weekend and craft their ideal escape from reality.

This year’s edition takes place from May 15-17. Headed into its third year at Camp Ramblewood, Showcation is gearing up for its biggest event yet. Throughout the weekend, campers can play a game of dodgeball, learn how to beatbox, or delight in the Wet Hot American Summer Pool Party during the day. After nightfall, Baauer, Chanpan, Daniel Allan, IN PARALLEL, and more will light up the Lake Stage.

As the countdown to Showcation 2026 begins to wind down, we sat down with festival founder James Corcoran to discuss his vision for the unique festival, its effect on the artists and attendees, and what to expect as it continues to grow. Continue reading for more insight into Showcation’s three-day spectacular.

Get a taste of what’s in store for the 2026 edition with Showcation’s official playlist, featuring the sounds of this year’s lineup!

What started as a gathering of friends evolved into a full-fledged festival. What happened along the way that gave you the idea to dream bigger and create Showcation?

Gathering people has always been a huge part of my life. I was always the friend trying to convince 50 people to rent a house somewhere random or fly to some niche camping festival in another country. And I was lucky enough to have friends who kept saying yes.

Festivals had a massive impact on me in my early 20s. They helped me get out of my shell and taught me how powerful it can be to spend a few days fully present with people. I know that’s a common story for a lot of festival-goers.

So Showcation really came from wanting to build for others what festivals had given me — a weekend where people can let go, make new friends or deepen existing friendships, and leave with memories that feel larger than normal life. And I’m fortunate that for the past two years, I’ve been able to work with an amazing team to create that.

How did you settle upon making a home at Camp Ramblewood?

We always wanted to build a choose-your-own-adventure festival made up of intimate themed spaces, activities, and immersive experiences, not just one or two giant stages. When we started, much of the founding team had just moved to New York, so we were looking for something close enough for our friends to get to.

Camp Ramblewood had cabins, a pool, a communal dining hall, and a ton of existing infrastructure, which made it ideal for a first-year pilot. It was much easier to convince New Yorkers without cars or camping gear to come to a camp with beds and showers.

But after year one, we really fell in love with the place. The camp itself started shaping the identity of what Showcation is. By year two, so much of the programming and world building came from leaning into what made Ramblewood special that it now feels like home.

At Showcation, it’s not uncommon to see artists interacting with attendees by assisting with Camp Olympics or eating in the mess hall. How important is it that artists see the vision of Showcation and are willing to be a part of the magic?

There are so many games and ways to interact with other campers at Showcation that artists often get swept into wanting to participate. We often find that the artists who most lean into being a camper end up walking away with a ton of diehard new fans.

There aren’t many shows where an artist can stick around and go from swimming in a pool with attendees to playing a game of dodgeball before singing karaoke at a house party. That builds really unique moments for fans and artists alike.

At the end of the day, artists want to have an unforgettable weekend just like the rest of us. So I think they just join in because they see the fun everybody is having and want to be a part of it.

In addition to music acts, you offer a wide variety of summer camp classics and newly imagined Showcation activities. What goes into creating a programming schedule that engages attendees?

As we head into our third year, we have a really solid idea of our identity at this point. We’re a summer camp for adults, nostalgic but evolved for the modern day. We know how much to lean into those summer camp classics, as you mentioned, but also the types of crazy ideas that people will love.

There’s a small core team of us who brainstorm and pick ideas in the fall, then throughout the winter and spring, we work on sourcing the right people and putting the pieces in place to pull off our concepts. We’ll also typically get a ton of applications from our community — and while we’re fairly selective, a lot of our favorite activities have come from our campers.

Our programming is very high touch, so it’s a ton of work for a lot of people, but we believe our activities and experiences are the core of what really makes Showcation stand out. And it’s why a lot of campers keep coming back every year and bringing more friends with them each time.

The event seems designed not only to accommodate friend groups but also to welcome solo attendees. Was this always the plan?

One of the questions we get most often is whether Showcation is okay to attend solo. And we always say yes because, in many ways, it’s actually one of the best ways to experience it.

Solo travel has been a huge part of my life, and I’ve always loved the feeling of a great hostel. You arrive alone, but the design of the space makes it almost impossible not to meet people. That was always part of the blueprint for Showcation.

The cabin rooms, group meals, intimate spaces, activities, and overall layout are all designed to make connections feel seamless. Whether you come with a group or ride solo, the goal is that you leave feeling like you’ve made new lifelong friends.

As you continue to scale the festival, how do you intend to ensure this stays an intimate affair?

For us, intimacy is less about the total number of people on site and more about how the experience is designed. Showcation isn’t built around one massive stage where everyone is doing the same thing at once. It’s built around smaller spaces, shared meals, activities, cabins, themed environments, and moments where people naturally cross paths.

So as we scale, the goal is not to make everything bigger. It’s to create more pockets of intimacy — more weird little spaces, more diverse experiences, more reasons for people to interact.

Describe Showcation in three words.

Summer camp reimagined.