Hey, Summer Campers!

This pandemic has left us with a lot of questions—particularly at Everything Summer Camp, “Will camp happen this year?” Camps all across the country have an optimistic resolve about the coming summer camp season. We work with tons of camps and the majority are still planning on a 2020 summer camp season! One among the many is Brantwood Camp in New Hampshire.   

Concerning covid, they put this message out on their facebook: “Brantwood Camp Family & Friends! We are doing everything we can to put procedures into place to make sure our staff and campers are safe and, as long as we can ensure that safety, we are planning on operating Summer 2020 as usual!”

Treated to 350 scenic acres of beautiful hills and impressive woods of the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire, Brantwood now receives 365 eager campers each year. In operation since 1904, Brantwood was initially a summer camp exclusive to boys, but opened Brantwood for girls in 1982 just a mile down the road. There’s lots of fun going on at Brantwood Camp! Provided with a pool as well as the gorgeous Silver Lake, daily Swimming is an essential part of a summer stay. As for fun on the land, campers learn confidence, teamwork, and good sportsmanship playing sports such as Baseball, Basketball, Football, Kickball, Swimming, Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, Volleyball, and more! Brantwood’s Campcraft program is awesome too, giving campers the chance to practice water safety and first aid as well as learning astronomy and exploring nature.

Brantwood Camp also offers B-Jerseys to those who earn them through victories in outdoor challenges and problem-solving competitions. Do awesome things at Brantwood like Rope Course, Rock Climbing, Rope Swing, Tightrope Walking, Canoeing, and more!

The boys’ campus is home to seven A-frame cabins where up to nine campers and two staff members sleep. Campers are accommodated with bunkbeds and cots as well as a drawer and cubby for belongings. The girls’ campus has six, identical cabins. They house up to 11 campers and two staff members, providing storage areas. Each cabin has a screened door and windows for good ventilation.

Each campus is equipped with fully modernized bathrooms, kitchen and dining room, large indoor recreational space, nature center, spacious activity fields, and a swimming pool! An awesome place for awesome kids, check out Brantwood Camp for yourself and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Happy Memorial Day!

As we inch closer and closer to summer, many states continue to loosen their restrictions of the quarantine orders that were put in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. With Memorial Day here, it’s important for us to commemorate this federal holiday while still adhering to the safety guidelines that have been laid out in your particular region.

Gathering
Being together is one of the best ways to remember those who fought and fell for this country—especially after staying in our homes all this while. It’s great to gather for grill-outs or go see someone who’s directly affected by a fallen soldier if you can! If you’re still unable to physically visit people, phone calls are always appreciated. Or you can drop off a letter or card or at least wish them a belated Happy Memorial Day in a letter you get in the mail today.

Parade
Parades are already a common Memorial Day tradition. If you’re able to gather for a parade as you always have in the past, great! Enjoy yourself! If your area is still practicing stricter social distancing, maybe you can suggest a spirited gesture of the drive-by parades that involve flag-flying and cheerful honking through the neighborhoods as we’ve seen throughout our country’s lockdown.

Visitation
A sobering cemetery visit can be a hard but often therapeutic outing. This Memorial Day tradition shouldn’t involve too much close contact, however, since some states need to exercise more caution than others, you may find you’re unable to visit the cemetery today. An alternative way to spend time thinking of the loved ones we’ve lost may be to find a picture of them or some other keepsake and just spend some time thinking about them and saying thanks for their service!

No matter what, you can find some way to remember the people who have fought and fallen for our freedoms. From Everything Summer Camp, we wish a Happy Memorial Day to all you Camp Families and, as always, thanks for reading.

John

Hey, Camp Fans!

This weekend, we continue publishing the great submissions we received for our new monthly ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. After our two prize winners, all entrants in our May contest received S’more Bucks (our campy term for loyalty points) for their participation—at Everything Summer Camp, everyone’s a winner! 

The following camp story submission is from Moriah D. who wrote in to tell us about her summer visits at Catalina Island Camp! Here’s her submission:

“My Mom has been volunteering at this camp for 25 years and my mom has been taking me there when I was a baby for almost 6 years. The first year I started doing all the activities is when I was nine years old. One of my many favorite activities is the high ropes at first I was really scared then my whole cabin cheered me on and I finished it. The other activities I really liked are hiking because most of the people around me encourage everyone around me. There are 3 more things I did not mention earlier: My name is Moriah and I am11 years old and the first time I went to this camp I did not want to go, but now I want to stay forever. Thank You for reading this.”

And thank you for writing this, Moriah! That’s awesome that you got to grow up with Catalina Island Camp around in the summers before actually attending summer sessions! It’s great how supportive the people and experiences of camp can be, isn’t it? I hope your future gets brighter every summer at Catalina Island Camp and maybe start volunteering like your mom! To everybody else, if you’re interested in your own camp stay at Catalina Island Camp, check out their website to learn more. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

This weekend, we continue on with publishing the awesome submissions we received for our new monthly ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest. All entrants after our two prize winners received S’more Bucks (our campy term for loyalty points) for their participation. At Everything Summer Camp, everyone’s a winner. 

The following post is from Alexa T. who wrote in to tell us about her summer visits at Camp Chi! Here’s her submission:

“Hi, my name is Alexa T. and I go to Camp Chi. Camp is one thing that keeps me going all year round, constantly giving me something to look forward to. One of the most meaningful memories I had was on Shabbat. On Shabbat, we do a song session, where we all come together and sing music and songs. On this day, we were early to song session and were told to come back later. It was the last song session of the year, so we were all ready to sing and cry our hearts out. Instead of going back to the cabin, my cabin decided to all lay on our backs in a circle on the tennis courts. We all went around in a circle talking about how much we loved one another and how much camp meant to us. We all started crying because knew in that moment that we all had each other always, and that we knew we had friends to talk to through any sadness or problem. In that moment, I felt accepted, at peace, and at home. It is one of the greatest feelings in the world to feel like you truly belong and know that no matter what, we will always be friends. These girls are not just my friends, but my sisters. Without camp, I wouldn’t be the person I am now. I wouldn’t have met these people that allowed me to be independent and strong person I am today. They give me the strength to keep going. Camp showed me the importance of getting to know someone truly, ignoring all the technology and stereotypes. It provides kids a place to truly be themselves. I will always thank camp for being not just a place, but my home.”

Sounds like you know exactly where you belong, Alexa! It’s wonderful to hear about all the great times you have with all the fun and all the friends you have at Camp Chi and it makes us so happy to hear how much camp means to you! Thanks for your submission, Alexa. To everybody else, if you’re interested in finding out firsthand what Alexa is talking about, visit Camp Chi’s website to learn more. And, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks!

- John

Hey, Camping People!

In preparation for the upcoming summer camp season, we’ve brought onboard a whole slew of new gear and other fun supplies for you to check out in our online camp store collection. It’s always exciting when we get to introduce a new brand name to our website, but with these new products, we get to introduce a handful of new names which all find their home under the same name of Cascade Designs.

Check out what we offer from them!

Their Therm-A-Rest name brings us awesome gear for outdoor comfort such as the Z Seat, their Trail Scout Self-Inflating Sleeping Pad, the Stellar Blanket, a Large Compressible Pillow, and a Regular Size Air Head Pillow. The lightweight design of this gear reflects your own body heat back to you for great warmth and comfort.

Shop our PackTowl products! The Personal Beach Towel, Personal Body Towel, Luxe Towel, and Luxe Hand Towel are all made of polyester and nylon microfiber fabric that feels quite nice and dries faster than cotton!

Available in a handful of sizes from five to ten to twenty liters, the SealLine Baja Dry Bag, constructed with rugged, vinyl-coated materials, is the all-purpose waterproof bag to keep your gear protected from rainfall!

Also, check out our Platypus hydration products! We’ve got the Big Zip EVO Reservoir as well as the DuoLock SoftBottle Water Bottle, available in .75 Liter and 1 Liter sizes.

It was 1972 when Cascade Designs, Inc. began with the single idea of creating comfort for a night spent outdoors. And with that single idea, they’ve continued to grow and branch off into some of the outdoor industry’s best-trusted brands. Enjoy the outdoors with the awesome innovations made by the many names of Cascade Designs and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John