We’re So Sad & Sorry, But Due to Covid, Camp Won’t Run This Summer. We’ll See You In 2022!

We hope you are doing as well as you can during these incredibly challenging times.  Unfortunately, we have extremely sad news about Camp for the summer of 2021 .  After intense discussions, extensive researching of the alternatives, and deep soul-searching, we have concluded that we cannot safely open Camp on July 4, 2021 as planned.  We are simply out of time to open safely and offer the camp program we all love. 

We held off making the decision about this summer’s Camp program for as long as we could, hoping for guidance from the provincial government, health authorities and a much better outlook for the pandemic.  But we have not received any direction yet, cases are at all-time highs, and we are currently in an emergency stay at home order. Kennebecers and our staff need time to make alternate arrangements for the summer.

While we cannot offer our usual summer camp program this year, we are considering options for June & July including family cabin rentals and meal plan.  And if the provincial government and local health authorities allow, we would like to offer small group, March Break style camps for August and September.  We will keep you informed as we solidify our plans. These new summer ideas are works in progress — until the second week of April, we were 100% focused on opening camp.

In the spirit of sharing, here are the major issues we could not solve:

1. The Government of Ontario still has a prohibition on overnight summer camps running and we have no information when or if the government will decide if overnight camps can operate in 2021
2. We also have not received Covid protocols from health authorities, so we do not know the specifics about complying with health regulations or which facility changes to implement
3. Camp families have told us about their health concerns about attending overnight camp with the rising Covid cases and variants of concern, shutdowns, unclear government direction, and lack of vaccination.
4. Our staff are a wonderful group of incredibly talented people, but at this late date, uncertainty about camp opening and whether they have summer jobs, means staffing challenges
5. And many other logistical challenges with camp set-up at this late date

Families who we’ve known for years asked us if we can survive another low revenue year.  The answer is unequivocally yes, due to insurance coverage, careful budgeting over the years and government support for hard-hit businesses.

None of us ever expected to face a situation like this again.  This decision was so hard to make. We are so sorry that we will be disappointing your Kennebecers again.  We wait all year to have our campers and staff come down the camp road and fill Kennebec with so much joy, happiness, love, and smiling faces. As always, if you have questions or comments, please do not hesitate to reach out.

With heartfelt love, appreciation, and unbelievable sadness,

Donna, Rob, Elle, Jay & Brian