The Estevan Bible Camp started the summer season off with a one-day camp for younger children on Monday.
A day filled with adventures, crafts and interaction was a blast for the little ones, who weren’t sure if they were ready to spend a night away from home. And now, after enjoying activities the camp had for them, some may come back for longer camps that will be running throughout July.
The Mercury talked to the Estevan Bible Camp director Ladan MacKenzie about this year’s enrollment. It turned out that there weren’t too many openings left.
“(The registration numbers) are up again this year … The first two camps are almost full,” said MacKenzie.
The second camp started on Tuesday and will run until July 12. It is developed for the kids ages seven to nine. Participants will be involved in a number of outdoor activities like canoeing, wall-climbing, archery, water fights, some games, crafts and of course chapel, which, as MacKenzie put it, “is why we are here.”
As of Monday, there was just one spot open for that camp.
Over the upcoming weekend, the Bible Camp will host a Family Fun Day. On July 13, everybody can come down to the Lamb’s Fold at the Woodlawn Regional Park and enjoy different activities offered throughout summer camps, as well as a free barbecue lunch.
And on July 14 the junior camp will start. It will last until July 19 and was developed for kids ages 10 to 12. Being a little bit longer this camp will offer a few more activities to participants.
The camp season will come to an end with the teen camp on July 19-25.
Participants in the camps will spend the entire time at the Bible Camp’s grounds, living in cabins, playing, learning and making new friends.
Estevan Bible Camp has been serving the Estevan community for many years, and every time it seems that the young adventurers enjoy the activities offered as much as their predecessors.
“You ask them and they seem to like them all (activities). The climbing is always popular. Most of them absolutely love canoeing,” said MacKenzie.
Other activities also find their fans amongst the camp participants.
A lot of older children are the repeats, and the younger ones are new, but as they age up to the next camp the staff gets to know them much better.
“It’s kind of cool to watch them cycle through,” said MacKenzie.
The camp leaders lead the kids in their activities ensuring their safety. A lot of them decided to work at the camp again after the previous positive experience, but some were new.
“They’ve either come up through camp, or they worked for some of the local youth groups and we’ve got to know them. They’ve joined us for our staff training. We would go over how to handle everything and they’ve been doing a really good job so far,” said MacKenzie.
The camp had to get more help this year since the number of participants was higher than before.
“This is going to be the largest camp and the largest team in well over a decade,” said MacKenzie.
And as years go by, it's still always a pleasure for the staff to be involved with the camps.
“We really enjoy seeing the kids come out and getting to know them. And I love working with this team,” said MacKenzie.
The registration for camps is still open. People can either phone the camp or register online.
