Popularity soars for Kalispell day camps

Kalispell’s day camps for area youngsters at Woodland Park are proving exceedingly popular this summer, among both working parents and their children.

Trina Hasson said she and her husband started taking their 6-year-old son to the camps four days a week this summer after having a positive experience with the city’s after-school program.

“We started out at four days a week to give him one day at home with me. Then he started saying he’d rather go to summer camp,” Hasson said.

“I thought, ‘So much for quality time.’ But that’s OK. He swims, he spends time with other kids, he’s making friends,” Hasson said. “We love it. He loves it. And that’s the best thing I can say about it. It’s an incredible value for keeping kids busy and doing constructive things.”

Kalispell had 3,400 single-day camp registrations last summer.

Based on single-day registrations this June and July, that total could run as high as 4,500 to 4,900 this summer.

Last year’s camps were staffed to handle 70 youngsters a day. The city geared up with more counselors to be able to handle 90 a day and so far is seeing that level of demand.

“We’ve been maxing out at least one day a week. This week was four days,” said Mike Baker, the city’s director of parks and recreation.

The day camps run all summer long, five days a week, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

They’re open to children ages 5 to 13 and designed to be full of activities that range from walks around the park to crafts and games and afternoon swims at Woodland Water Park.

Two days a week, children get visits from special speakers or head out on field trips to places such as Lone Pine State Park, where they can take an interpretive hike with a ranger.

Parents pre-register their children and then drop them off and pick them up on the camp days they register for. The cost is $20 a day for city residents, $25 a day for nonresidents.

This summer, Kalispell joined with School District 5 to offer children free meals and snacks.

“The school district was funded for that and our site is eligible, so kids get lunches here or sack lunches to take along if they go on a field trip, and also breakfast, if they so desire,” Baker said.

The camps keep children active, socializing, and having fun in a supervised environment, Baker said, adding that there’s at least one counselor for every eight campers and sometimes one for every six for younger children.

“A number of years ago I had a parent come to me and say, ‘You know what the best thing about this camp is? Not only is it fun for the kids, but when the kids come home they just about fall asleep at the supper table,’” Baker said.

Kalispell’s summer day camp program started in 1989 and has grown tremendously. At first it was held in an old maintenance garage at Woodland Park with just a few children showing up any given day. Now it’s run out of the old Bruckhauser Pool building, which has been retrofitted.

Parks and Recreation also is gearing up for an expanded after-school program when school starts. The program will have two sites, the existing site at Elrod Elementary and a new one at Russell Elementary.

The after-school program also has grown tremendously, from no more than a half-dozen children at its start a decade ago to about 8,000 single-day registrations last school year.

The cost for the city’s after-school program is $6 per day, with the school district providing transportation to the two sites.

“We’ve been looking at that expansion for a couple of years now and we just said, ‘Let’s see what we can do,’” Baker said, thanking the community for its support of both the summer day camp and after-school programs.

“The community seems to like what we’re doing, and we’re trying to do the best we can,” he said.

For more information, visit www.kalispell.com/parks_and_recreation or call the parks and recreation department at 758-7975.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.