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V O L . X X V I N O. X V J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 2 0 18 A U G U S TA / WAT E R V I L L E / C E N T R A L M A I N E A ny Maine summer camp brochure will tell you that the weeks spent at camp are magical. e numbers are magical, too. Maine's summer camps, many more than a century old, have grown into a $200 million industry, with more than 150 camps, drawing 40,000 campers and 12,000 employees. is year only 24 camps are open or plan to open, many of them day camps. e numbers are still being compiled, says Ron Hall, executive director of Maine Summer Camps, but the economic hit will be hard. "It's going to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars," he says. e loss isn't just to camps, some of which charge tuitions in five figures, but to businesses, particu- larly the hotels and inns that are overrun on parents weekend in July. Camps that are opening have to follow social distancing and health guidelines that mean fewer campers, but extra staff and costs. Putting the camp to work "We couldn't have done it," says Norm ombs, executive director of Camp Mechuwana, a United Methodist camp on Annabessacook Lake, in Winthrop. "Even if we could possibly have pulled it off, economically, we would've taken a beating." About 25 miles north, in Sidney, New England Music Camp officials came to the same conclusion. "We started in March, hoping, as everyone else was, that we'd be OK by June," says Christa Johnson, development director for Snow Pond Center for the Arts, which operates the camp. When the reality of the situation became clear, it stunned them. "We realized, for the first time in 84 years, there wouldn't be a New England Music Camp," she says. Like a smattering of other camps across the state, operators of the two camps looked at what Most summer camps are closed, but some find ways to keep the economic campfire smoldering B y M a u R e e n M i L L i k e n F O C U S Christa Johnson Christa Johnson, director of , director of development at development at Snow Pond Snow Pond Center for the Arts Center for the Arts, left, and , left, and Kim Wiggin Kim Wiggin, director of the , director of the New England Music Camp New England Music Camp. COVID era in the Happy Camping they had — kitchens, open space, potential staff — and decided even if they can't be camps this year, they can be something. 'It blew up' New England Music Camp opened in 1936 and draws young musicians from around the globe to the shore of Messalonskee Lake on 40 acres in between Augusta and Waterville. e staff includes music teachers, and free con- certs throughout July and August at the historic Bowl in the Pines amphitheater draw an audience from around the region. Chef Tim Morin had been hired to cook for the camp shortly before the pandemic hit. In March, once schools shut down, he started cooking for Snow Pond's "buy a meal, give a meal" program to help provide meals to the South End Teen Center in Waterville and the Augusta Boys & Girls Club. at evolved into an outdoor weekend restaurant as the weeks went by. ey added five docks, and started drawing customers from around the lake. During an April Zoom meeting, buoyed by the restaurant success, staff brainstormed about what else they could do. Someone suggested renting out the 42 cabins typically used by campers. e cabins vary in age and come in one- to three-bedroom configurations, with living rooms and a bathroom. It would be kind of a low-key rus- tic resort that would follow the state's COVID-19 checklist for lodging businesses. ere was no marketing plan, and few expecta- tions. Once things were set, an email blast went out to the organization's mailing list. "It just blew up," It just blew up. We didn't think it through, that the alumni would go nuts for it. — Christa Johnson Development Director, Snow Pond Center for the Arts P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY

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