Day Camp is on for Summer 2020! (With some changes)

We are so excited that, under the direction of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Camp Otonwe and other summer day camps will be permitted to open for the 2020 season! Our first concern is for the health and safety of our campers and staff. Like the Governor says, we want to do this right.

For Camp Wyandot overnight camp, we are currently awaiting the official guidance and restrictions that will be required and recommended by the state, by the local health department, and by the CDC. We are in frequent conversations with our accreditation body, the American Camp Association, which is providing best-practice guidance on the re-opening of camps.

Our current plans, which we have been working on for weeks, call for reduced sizes of cabin groups, staggered shifts for eating meals, more handwashing and sanitizing, and fewer or no all-camp gatherings. We are busy re-working our normal schedules, routines and traditions so that camp will be as special as ever, while keeping our campers and their families as safe as possible.

Tom Rosenberg, current President and CEO of the American Camp Association, sent this great quote along with the ACA’s most recent guidance:

“Over the decades, camps have confidently and flexibly dealt with communicable diseases, earthquakes, wildfires, and more. We do this through careful planning and the use of best-practices in crisis management. This is one of our core competencies as a field.  The camp community has faced challenges in the past and we have emerged smarter, stronger, and called to work in the field of camp with a deeper sense of purpose. We will persevere; we will plan for camp and the millions of campers we collectively serve. While every generation has faced uncertainty and change, camp experiences are more important and strategically necessary for this generation to thrive in the years to come.”