The Estevan Bible Camp is looking to rejuvenate itself as it looks forward to a brighter and fuller future.
The Bible camp's vice-chairman Justin Nixon is a former camp leader and spoke to the Mercury last week about the future of the camp and its new home in Woodlawn Regional Park.
The camp location was devastated by 2011 flooding, though many of the cabins escaped relatively unscathed. The camps were converted from weeklong ones to day camps in 2011 and 2012, and were held at Living Hope Community Church.
The flooding forced the board to look at other potential locations for the camp. Eventually, Woodlawn Regional Park approached them about setting up in the location they could share with the Scouts, just northeast of Met Stadium and right next to the river.
"We were in discussion with them to develop this land that happened to be used by the Scouts and will be used by them. It was a great opportunity to give us a lot of flexibility because the time constraints in Rotary Park, the size of the building and the size of the kitchen really hampered what we wanted to do," said Nixon, saying that with them no longer going to use Rotary Hall, it gives the park a few extra weeks each summer where they can rent it out. "Moving into this facility will give us the flexibility we need. As a camp we need a few more amenities for health reasons."
They need showers on site, more bathroom stalls and a more "commercial-style" kitchen, he added.
"Once we get back up to our full numbers, you need a full-sized kitchen to properly prepare food, so it made sense because we needed a bigger facility and Rotary Hall just isn't designed to facilitate that for us."
Numbers for the camps are down, with a lot of the blamed place on the flooding, which caused the camps to be pretty quiet for the past two years.
The squirt camp is higher than the others, as per usual, but the numbers for the junior and team camps are very low. Still, the camps will go ahead this year.
"We made the decision as a board that we're going to go forward regardless, because we need to start somewhere. We need to rebuild."
The long-term plan for the camp is to turn it into a two-month long, all summer experience. The board is looking ahead three to five years and are hoping to be able to put that in place, but having a building of their own will allow them to do it, free of their three-week time limit with Rotary Hall.
"That's what we're going for. That's what we're striving for, because we really feel that this area could really use it. It may take a little longer, but we're excited to work toward that," said Nixon.
He said that once they have the number of kids to support a summer-long camp that is something they would like to try.
He noted they have always built through the squirt camps, as those kids return each summer for subsequent years. After the program was devastated by flooding in 2011, they will need to replenish those numbers. Nixon said it could take a few years, but the board is prepared for that.
"That's what we're preparing for. We have a couple of things we're going to push in the offseason to really promote camp. A lot of people don't think about it during the winter, but one thing we're trying to work on is our exposure throughout the community," said Nixon, adding that families don't need to send their kids to Regina or Kenosee when there is a camp just a few minutes south of the city.
The original plan was to get the renovations of the new facility completed and ready to go for this camp season, but with the winter running late into the spring that became unfeasible.
Four walls and a roof have been erected and they are awaiting the concrete for the floor. That won't come until later this summer, as Nixon noted construction has been put on hold as they run the camps.
They will be building three new cabins for next year as well. Those will include a building for the director, who has stayed in a mobile home in the past, a cabin for the camp speaker and another one to be used as a staff room, which will provide storage in the offseason.
Power and water lines still need to be trenched in and connected to the main hall.
Nixon noted a number of volunteers came in to help clear some brush, during United Way Estevan's Day of Caring. Between that and the construction of the new hall's exterior, things are starting to look like they belong.
"We're really excited about the opportunity," said Nixon about the prospect of moving into the new spot. "The one thing we're really excited about is the trees. Once we get those cabins in, it's really going to give the feeling of camping, that camp feel where you're outdoors, there are trees everywhere, it smells like trees. It really smells like the outdoors."
The board did canvass other areas when looking for a new spot for the camp, and while some included areas where they would have to plant a lot of trees and let them develop, Nixon said that just wouldn't be the same.
Camps will be hosted for the final time in Rotary Park this summer. The squirt camp (ages seven to nine) began on Sunday, with the junior camp (10 to 12) will run July 10 to 15 and the team camp (13 to 16) will be held between July 16 and 21.
