According to information provided on January 15 to church leaders across the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (NAD), tickets to the 2024 International Pathfinder Camporee in Gillette, Wyoming, United States, August 5-11, are sold out.

The event is expected to draw 55,000 young people and their leaders, mostly from North America but also from around the world.

Sue Nelson, Club Ministries executive coordinator of the Rocky Mountain Conference of the Adventist Church (RMC), explained how the conference is dealing with those who are still looking for tickets for the event. “Those in the RMC who still need tickets should contact me so that I can put their name on a list in case someone has some to sell,” she said. Other regions across the NAD are implementing similar plans for those who didn’t register in time.

Nelson explained the rationale behind the attendee cap and what prospective campers in her region can do about it. “This is the best way that we can keep our square footage intact at the site, and they can camp with other RMC conference participants. There is no transfer of space otherwise. If someone from RMC buys tickets from another conference, say California, then they will have to camp with the California conference,” she explained.

The Pathfinder Camporee began in 1985 and was first held within the RMC borders at Camp Hale in Eagle County, Colorado. And while RMC has hosted Camporee twice before, it has been almost two decades since it last convened in its territory.

The town of Gillette hosting the event has been an exceedingly helpful and gracious partner in preparations for the Camporee, even constructing facilities to be used at the event, according to event leaders. Cathy Kissner, RMC Community Services and Disaster Relief coordinator, also recently met with Wyoming state officials. She says they are taking security for this event very seriously to ensure the safety of participants during their stay.

RMC youth director Brandon Westgate commented on some of the activities set to occur at the event. “Aside from the more than 200 Pathfinder Honors that will be taught, there will be attempts made all week long at setting several world records,” he shared.

According to Westgate, “Pathfinders who are fortunate enough to attend the International Camporee will be able to trade pins, earn honors, experience a deeply spiritual awakening, and make connections with other Pathfinders from the world over. We are more than thrilled that the RMC is the host conference for what promises to be a record-breaking camporee for our young people!” Westgate said.

A few new conference honors are intended for submission to the NAD Honors Committee, RMC leaders said. Some of these new honors range from medical and homeless ministry to heroes of the Reformation to the Ten Commandments. Others include the natural sciences of agricultural technology, animal rescue, magnetics, and deep-sea oceanography. There are even new honors in the arts including musical notation, needle felting, and stained glass, they said.

The original version of this story was posted on the Rocky Mountain Conference news site.