Camps look forward to summer season

FINGER LAKES--As the school year rapidly approaches its end Camp Cory in Penn Yan, Camp Good Days in Branchport and the 4-H Camp in Watkins Glen are getting ready to take campers for the summer season. While many camps will be able to expand offerings from last summer's stricter public health guidelines, there will still be changes to maximize camper safety.
"I expected a lot of people would be hesitant...but we keep hearing better and better news in Yates County about (COVID) numbers going down and we are really excited about the support we are getting from parents," said Pat Foster, executive director at Camp Cory.
While both the day and overnight programs will be in session this summer, Foster said that the overnight camp will be six weeks instead of the usual eight and be run with lower numbers.
"We wanted to keep it down to a more manageable number to give staff time to get to college orientation and give us an extra week before to make sure we have protocols down and the staff is trained," Foster stated.
The first day camp is scheduled to begin June 29, while the first overnight camp is set for July 4, which Foster said will be 100 years to the day from when the camp was first started.
"And all of our staff will be vaccinated, it is a pre-hire requirement," Foster noted.
For Camp Good Days in Branchport, which specializes in providing services to those directly and indirectly fighting cancer, there will be a new program for families this summer.
"We will have a lower capacity as far as attendance, six families coming for overnight sessions," said Caitlyn Bailey, camp director for Camp Good Days. "We are happy to be at least to allow families to come and enjoy the facilities together."
To help with the overnight stays, Bailey said a team of volunteers will be helping out which should provide some familiar faces for those attending.
"In a traditional year our families go through so much with treatments and so much social time taken away from peers," Bailey mentioned. "Generally we don't have programs for the parents so it's kind of neat to bring parents to the facility so they can experience it first hand."
Looking ahead, Bailey said it was her hope, but not a guarantee, that an overnight program for the weekends might be able to resume in the fall.
"We are very hopeful we will be able to have our traditional programs (next summer)," Bailey added.
According to the Hidden Valley 4-H Camp website campers will be welcomed back for the 75th year of camping at Hidden Valley this summer. Overnight and day camps will both be open and are available to all children, not just 4-H members.
Drop off for overnight camp, which runs weekly, begins Sunday, July 4 while the day camp begins July 5.