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Summer Camp Enrollment Holds Up, But Costs Take Toll

July 02, 2008 - POLAND -- Enrollment at Maine summer camps is holding up this year, despite concerns in the industry that the shaky economy and high fuel prices might keep campers at home.

But while camp attendance in Maine appears to be going strong this summer, staffers at both day and overnight camps are scrambling to find ways to economize. Tuition rates are generally set almost a year in advance, and they did not capture the huge run-up in the price of commodities.

In the midst of soaring fuel and food costs, some camps are creating car pooling opportunities with other camps, turning out the lights when not in use and stepping up messages about energy conservation to their campers.

Fritz Seving, owner of Camp Fernwood, an overnight girls camp on Lake Thompson in Poland, said the financial realities of the summer became abundantly clear when he gassed up two vans and four motorboats in anticipation of opening day.

He told the attendant that he would probably spend $500 by the time he fueled up. But the bill wound up a lot higher.

"It was $879," said Seving.

Camp officials attribute the strong season to the national movement to get children back outdoors and Maine's image as a vacationland rich in natural resources. They said it also helped that campers signed up and made hefty down payments months in advance of the bleak economic news.

Every year, about 30,000 children – more than half of them from Maine – attend a summer camp in the state, according to Mary Ellen Deschenes, program consultant at the Maine Youth Camping Association, which represents 115 of the 200 or so summer camps licensed by the state. There are also dozens of summer day camps, such as vacation Bible schools and enrichment programs, that do not require licenses.

Camp directors and owners said it's a delicate task to cut costs but deliver the same great food, excursions and activities campers expect and have paid for. And some are finding new solutions to the problems.

Center Day Camp buses its children from Portland and other locations each day to its waterfront facilities 20 miles away on Sebago Lake in Windham. The camp increased its enrollment because it was more economical to hire additional staff and operate full buses than have fewer staffers and partially full buses.

Lani Toscano, director, said it was a painless step because there is always a long waiting list.

"This has been a great lesson in both micro and macro economics," said Toscano.

At Camp Nashoba North, a boys and girls camp on Crescent Lake in Raymond, the staff has agreed not to go water-skiing with the camp's motorboats on their time off. They make sure the boats are operating at full capacity during water-skiing classes with the campers.

Food costs are more problematic, said Sarah Seaward, the camp's owner.

"We have great food, and that is one of our draws," she said. She said she is nervously eyeing the floods in the Midwest, worried about how they may impact the cost of the camp's popular salad bar.

"We evaluate food costs every week," she said.

Camp directors say the good news is conservation often dovetails nicely with their camp philosophy. Sustainability has always been part of the experience at Alford Lake Camp, a girls camp in Hope, said director Suzanne McMullan.

"So we are not veering much from that," McMullan said.

While camp registration is on par with last year throughout New England, said Bette Bussel, executive director of the American Camp Association, that could easily change next year if the economy remains sour.

"If we are going to see more of an impact next year, it will be based on what the economy does between now" and registration for next season, she said.

By BETH QUIMBY, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, June 30, 2008


Lakes: Crescent Lake, Thompson Lake
Regions: Sebago


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