Hey, Camp Fans!

Time for Everything Summer Camp’s annual ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest has rolled around once again! We’re excited to give away our prizes and announce our lucky winners as well as posting their stories right here on the Blog. Today, I’m announcing our second $100 gift certificate winner right now!

And our second $100 winner is….Maggie N.!

Congratulations, Maggie! You just won $100 for our one-stop camping gear shop for your future equipment purchases! Thanks for sharing your summer experience at Camp Mystic. You can read her submission right here:

Camp was fun. I went to Camp Mystic! My name is Maggie. I did many things at my two-week summer camp. I went canoeing; I fell in the water a lot! I also did Camp Craft. We did stuff like go hiking which was fun and hard. We also made Orange Cakes. To make an Orange Cake you hollow out an orange, put cake batter in it, wrap it in tin foil, and put it in the fire. When it is ready, you eat it out of the orange! At lunch, we would have ice cream for every dessert. Field Day is where the camp tribes compete against each other. We compete in stuff like fishing, dodgeball, deck tennis, steal-the-bacon, and a relay race. My favorite competition was steal-the-bacon. I went three times in steal-the-bacon and won one time. My tribe did not win Field Day unfortunately, but there is always next summer!

Cool! Camp Mystic sounds like it has a lot going on! I’m glad you took advantage of that and did so much stuff! Nice work with Steal-the-Bacon! If there’s real bacon involved, I think I would do really well. Things sound optimistic about another summer at Camp Mystic next year! Glad to hear it’s such a good fit for you, Maggie!

To anybody else interested in Camp Mystic, you can check it out by clicking right here. Be sure to tune in tomorrow to find out who our grand prize winner is! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

The fast-approaching autumn season means the Everything Summer Camp’s annual ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest is in full swing for this year, announcing our lucky winners and sharing their stories right here on the Blog. Today, I’m announcing our first $100 gift certificate winner! So, with no further wait, the winner is….

Victoria S.!

Congratulations, Victoria! You’re getting $100 for our one-stop camping gear shop coming your way! Some fun was certainly had at Camp Harlam. Read about what makes Camp Harlam a special place for her in her submission right here:

Awesome, Victoria! Thanks for writing in to us and sharing what made camp such a highlight to your summer. Camp Harlam sounds like it must be a really amazing place that showed you a great time. I hope you and Alice traded phone numbers or addresses so you can keep in touch throughout the year. Nice work trying new things!

I’m glad you went on the blow-up slide despite how scared you were to do it. It sounds pretty cool. I’m glad Sloppy Joes were a success for you this time around as well! Your taste buds actually change over time, so you never know what you’ll end up liking. I never liked broccoli as a kid and now I love it! Thanks again for this fantastic submission about your time at Camp Harlam, Victoria. I hope you have many more fun summers there!

To anybody else interested in going to Camp Harlam in the coming summer season, you can check it out closer by clicking right here and visiting their website. Be sure to tune in tomorrow when we reveal the next $100 winner of the ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest here at Everything Summer Camp! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

It’s the Everything Summer Camp ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! We’re in full swing for this year, announcing our lucky winners and sharing their stories right here on the Blog. Today, I’m announcing the last of our $50 gift certificate winners! Today, the winner is…. 

Madelyn I.!

Congratulations, Madelyn! You win a $50 gift certificate to our one-stop camping gear shop! Madelyn enjoyed her first summer stay at Pine Cove Camp. Read about it in her Contest entry right here:

This was my first summer at Pine Cove. I have never been away from home for an entire week and I had no idea what to expect. I had an amazing time but my favorite thing was going to the camp store with my friend, Kendal.

In the morning we would get up, eat breakfast and do morning activities. Then we ate lunch and had quiet time. Kendal and I could not wait until quiet time was over and we could run to the camp store so we could be the first in line.

My favorite thing from the camp store was a donut shaped pillow that smells like a real donut. I sleep with it every night and it reminds me of camp! I also bought a journal to write all of the fun things we did at camp. Before we left the store, we usually got a snack like a Diet Dr Pepper and a kit kat.

I made so many friends and had an amazing time. I am already signed up for next summer and I cannot wait.

Awesome, Madelyn! The Pine Cove sounds like a wonderful place, especially with such a cool-sounding camp store! I’m glad you and Kendal and all your other friends enjoyed your time at Pine Cove Camp. Here’s to many years to come of camp fun! To anybody else interested in Pine Cove Camp, you can check it out by clicking right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

The ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest is in full swing for this year. We’ve been announcing our lucky winners and sharing their stories right here on the Blog throughout September. And today, I’m announcing our next $50 gift certificate winner! Today’s winner is….

Carol H.!

Greetings from Carol H., proud grandmother of two Camp Seneca Lake campers! Abby P. (age 10) just returned from her second summer at CSL. Sam P. (age 12) is back home after his third summer there.

In 2020, when camp was not in session, our family spent an amazing weekend at CSL family camp. I enjoyed my time there...after all, I hadn't been at camp since the 1960's! (I wrote about this experience in my submission last year.) Abby and Sam had fun during family weekend but missed the independence of being at camp without parents and grandparents.

In 2021 camp was back to normal...well sort of. There were four short sessions (two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, and one week) rather than two longer sessions of three and a half weeks each. There were no buses to ride to and from camp. No off campus trips either. And there was a COVID coordinator who kept everyone safe. Did you have one of those on your camp staff before this summer? Abby and Sam relished every moment of the four sessions they attended. They participated in sports, music and art, waterfront activities, camp-wide competitive programs like Color War, and Shabbat services. What they treasured most of all, however, was being with friends—real, live, in-person friends. This social interaction is what they missed during the pandemic. They seem to have bonded more closely than ever before with their bunkmates. They are already planning reunions and visits and they Face Time regularly.

Every morning I looked forward to seeing their smiling faces in pictures on the camp website. Their smiles made me cry. The camp photographer was amazing. Few pictures were posed. Most were candid action shots which captured how much fun everyone was having. Abby said she never even noticed the photographer!

I'm thrilled to be able to write an entry in this "share your camp story" forum. Everything Summer Camp has become our family go-to online store. Abby has created personalized name labels and laundry bags. Sam loves the bedding and even uses it at home. Camp trunks and other large items have been perfect holiday gifts. Purchases are always excellent quality, reasonably priced, and arrive quickly. Thank you, ESC!

The pleasure is all ours, Carol! Thank you so much for your continued interest in shopping our camp gear selection and participating in our 'Share Your Camp Story' Contest! We're thrilled to hear how much you and your grandkids have enjoyed our store throughout the years. That's so cool that you got to catch a glimpse of the fun that was had thanks to the stealthy work of the photographer they have--sounds like a pro! Glad this year was another summer of fun after the dud of 2020. If Seneca Lake sounds like the right camp experience for you, give it a closer look by clicking here. Tune in tomorrow when I reveal our next winner! And, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

The end of summer’s always bittersweet, but year-after-year, we’re excited here at Everything Summer Camp to keep with our traditional ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest! We saw an excellent response with your submissions since we’ve upped the ante this year, making the grand prize $300. 

Today we have our fourth $50 winner. And that winner is….

Desmond T.!

Congratulations, Desmond! You’re our fourth $50 prize winner! Desmond had a great summer stay at Pine Island Camp for the first time this year! Read all about it in his entry right now:

My Camp Story

This summer, I went to Pine Island Camp in Belgrade Lakes, Maine.

It was my first year at P.I.C. and I was about half-and-half happy and scared, but since my Uncle came here I wasn’t feeling that scared. One day signed up on the activities list for Archery in the morning and Swimming in the afternoon. Nothing really unusual happened in Archery but Swimming was really fun and interesting. To start, I was still trying to get my intermediate so all I had to do was demonstrate a proper dive. There were four other kids in swimming Max, Ryker, Ben, and Tanner. Ben and Tanner were from Expeditions Camp so they were way older. Ryker also had to finish his intermediate badge. The X-Campers had to do a challenge to hold a brick above their head while treading water for a minute but Ryker wanted to do something with the brick. Also, Max L. is training for his master rank and all he needs is find a sunken object and get the instructor’s approval, so Ryker Really wanted to do something with the brick and he is obsessed with saying “YEET” so he picked up the brick and threw it. Apparently he forgot they sink! So Max dived down, and I dived too and got my intermediate during that dive and Max got his master Rank.

Hilarious! Thanks for this great submission, Desmond! That was pretty clever of Max and ridiculous of Ryker—YEET! But I guess it worked out for everybody: Max got his master rank, you got your intermediate, and Ryker got to throw a brick. That’s a win-win-win situation right there. Sounds like your summer stay at Pine Island Camp was a success!

If you’re interested in checking out the Pine Island Camp for yourself, do it now by clicking here. Be sure to come back on Monday when we’ll continue announcing our winners and publishing your camp stories right here on the Blog! As always, thanks for reading (and writing), Boys and Girls!

 - John