Bernie Bros to Occupy Local Campgrounds for DNC

Four days of peace, love… and Bernie.

Courtesy Paste via Wikimedia Commons

Courtesy Paste via Wikimedia Commons

Hotels across the Delaware Valley will host about 6,000 delegates and supporters during the Democratic National Convention this July. But some Bernie supporters are looking to find cheaper sleeping spots through more of a grassroots approach.

Literally. 

The City will not grant camping permits during the DNC, Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Mayor Kenney, told NBC10. So protestors are finding their own ways to camp for the DNC, and they’re quickly reserving private sites in New Jersey.

According to one group’s Facebook page, OCCUPY DNC CONVENTION JULY 2016, the Old Cedar and Timberlane Campgrounds, are now full, and it took “just a few days,” one Facebook user writes. Both are located in New Jersey and within roughly 25 miles of the convention.

Some are calling it “Camp Bernie.” There’s a rather amusing Facebook event page.

Protestors from the same Facebook group are now looking to fill the Four Seasons Campground in Pilesgrove, New Jersey, which they say reserved 200 sites for them that “will go fast.”

They’re also also organizing school buses to take supporters between the campgrounds and the city, according to the Facebook page.

Prices at the sites vary by campground, with the Four Seasons Campgrounds priced at $35 per night for two adults and unlimited children.

Meanwhile, hotels outside the city are filling up quickly as well. Officials from the Valley Force Tourism and Convention Board told 6ABC that the board launched an aggressive campaign in February – similar to the one they launched for the Papal visit in September – to attract delegates, party officials and DNC supporters to hotels in the suburbs.

Ed Harris, the Vice President of the board, told 6ABC that across 27 contracted hotels, over 15,000 hotel nights are booked during the time of the DNC, ten of which are reserved for delegates.

The DNC kicks off at the Wells Fargo Center on July 25th.

Follow @ClaireSasko on Twitter.