Hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s technology meltdown, Fairfax County Park Authority officials are making revisions to their 2025 spring and summer camp registration procedures.
The biggest change: The first day of registration will vary depending on where a camp program is located.
For its 2025 program, the park authority has divided the county roughly in half into “Green” (eastern) and “Blue” (western) sections. Registration will begin Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 9 a.m. for programs in the Green zone and Thursday, Feb. 6 at 9 a.m. in the Blue zone.
Registrations for spring classes will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at 9 a.m.
Park authority officials hope the staggered start will avoid a repeat of 2024, when an online platform managed by a third-party vendor crashed under the strain of first-day registrations.
“We’ve worked with our vendor to correct the error that led to last year’s challenges,” Park Authority officials said in a statement.
The park authority’s 38-page spring/summer camp guide has been posted online, and will be mailed to county households around Friday, Jan. 31. It contains an explanation of the new procedures, and the agency has posted an online video to help registrants navigate the process.
For those who don’t snag a slot in their desired camp, waitlists for all summer camps will open at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 1.
Summer camp programs are exceedingly popular across Northern Virginia localities, which has led to a number of well-publicized technology problems.
In 2023, the online registration system for Camp Fairfax, the summer program for Fairfax County’s School Age Child Care centers, encountered technical difficulties on its launch day, forcing a temporary shutdown.
The summer camp program of Arlington County’s Department of Parks and Recreation has had several well-publicized meltdowns in recent years.
