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State Program Offers Free Camping, Families Get Hooked on Joy of Camping

August 06, 2008 - Seven hundred Maine families applied. Only 32 were selected. And when it all ends this weekend, Cristy Meacham and others will be wondering why their families didn't start camping sooner.

The first summer of the First-Time Campers program rolled out by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands drew more interest than expected, with many families learning how to camp and loving it, said Gary Best, an interpretive planner with the bureau.

"For us, that's great. That is what we're trying to do," Best said.

Meacham, a Gorham resident who went camping with her husband, James, and three young girls, said the children "were right in their element. They spent a lot of time swimming. I think we'll try Acadia National Park next summer."

The program involved 32 families staying at one of seven campgrounds around the state for free, using new equipment donated by L.L. Bean and Coleman. In addition, every family member was given a new sleeping bag to take home. Other companies, such as Hannaford Bros. and Oakhurst Dairy, donated food, so the families paid nothing other than the transportation cost of getting to the campgrounds.

Some families had parents who had been camping before but their children hadn't; others consisted entirely of first-timers. Most left their weekend of experiencing woods, fresh water and burnt marshmallows planning to go again next year.

"Some didn't have the equipment and weren't sure if they wanted to buy everything," Best said. "Now that they've had a chance to try it as a family, and see their family does enjoy it, this is what they want to do more of."

Each family was given a brief orientation by park guides on outdoor ethics and fire safety, and instructions on how to start a campfire and set up a tent.

James Meacham and his 6-year-old daughter, Stefanie, enjoyed working on their fire-starting skills together. Meacham had camped as a youth, but not in recent years.

For Stefanie, it was all new.

"We had been talking about taking the girls camping, but we were a little nervous just because they're so young. But we said if we win a free trip, that will be the deciding factor," Cristy Meacham said. "They loved it. They loved being outside and camping. It was a perfect weekend for them."

The Meachams are an outdoors family who fish and swim in the ocean. Spending a sunny summer weekend beside a lake was ideal.

However, Meacham said she worried about her daughters – ages 2, 4, and 6 – and how interested they would be in camping activities, mostly swimming, boating and fishing.

Her worry was for naught.

"I didn't know how well they'd sleep. They slept well," Meacham said.

Lindsay Crooker-Mazariego of Oxford grew up in Lovell and spent time as a youth playing in the woods. Yet she wasn't sure her boys – Marcelo, 10, and William, 9 – would enjoy camping.

What held her back from trying it with them, she said, was the cost of the equipment – at least a few hundred dollars.

Now that they all have sleeping bags, Crooker-Mazariego said she plans to invest in more gear and camp next summer.

"I had gone as a kid before, but never as an adult with my family and children. My two boys thought we wouldn't win. What are the chances of that? When we did, they were so excited," she said.

"We went swimming, toasted marshmallows, explored part of the Sebago Lake camping area. The boys thought it was great. They want to do it again."

Crooker-Mazariego even knows where they will go next year: Mount Blue State Park.

"Sebago has 250 campsites, right on top of each other. It doesn't really feel alone in the wilderness," she said.

As for other first-time campers, the bureau will hold the program again next year, and it will likely grow.

"We want to improve it," Best said.

By DEIRDRE FLEMING, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, August 3, 2008


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