This winter and spring has been all about talking with camp families. Past, present, and future. It’s been really amazing.

Hearing all of these stories. Seeing tons of pictures. Finding out what people got from camp, want from camp, and what they love.

A few weeks ago, at a Juniper 2006 mini-reunion, I was even able to bring along photos to show them. We’d gone back through the archives to find some from 2006.
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​Quick aside if you are an alum getting together with old camp friends let me know!

Watching them look through photos of their camp, their bunks, their friends was awesome. Then, hearing them talk about their kids coming to camp in a couple of years as well.

It’s sometimes tough to put your finger on what exactly works so well about camp besides the obvious ones we write about a lot. I know we hit on no phones a lot, but come on it really matters.

But for sure what works at K&E is that everyone knows your name and you know everyone else’s name. That’s no small thing.

Not just an individual bunk of campers. Not just an age group. Everyone.

The seniors are out there playing with the youngest campers. It exists outside the program. It just is.

At a certain camp size, this becomes impossible. Here, it’s kinda inevitable.

That passerby effect

Being at an intentionally small camp is something like the feeling you get when you can see people and nod your head at them and smile and know that you know them. If that makes sense.

Kids go in and out of activities with the same but different faces. They see different counselors at meals, then see them again running archery or leading campfire. They talk with the directors. They end up knowing everybody.

And that feeling is pervasive. It affects how comfortable kids feel at camp.

Because we run longer sessions, this comfort level builds and builds and builds on itself. So then years later, when your kid sees people who were younger than them, people who were older than them, they know them all.

There’s a deep level of comfort.

They’ll have friends across age groups. A 14-year-old who remembers their name from last summer. An 8-year-old who looks up to them.

If camp were bigger, kids would have to stay in their lanes. When you’ve got 400 or 600 kids per camp, you have to. It’s logistics.

Nothing wrong with that. Some families want more kids, more options, more stuff.

We’re betting on something different. The size, time and space for real relationships.

Kids need real grownups

Being small also means your kid truly know the real adults and we know them.

Not just counselors. Our counselors are awesome. But year-round staff.

The same people you talk to on the phone. The people who’ve been here for years. The people who know your kid’s story before they arrive.

At larger places with 500 kids, the director is like a school principal. They give speeches at assemblies. They walk around. Kids might wave at them.

But they’re not sitting at the kids’ table at lunch. Can’t at that size.

At K&E, your kid will sit with Ali. With Sylvia. With Violet. With me. With the people running the place.

When they need a grownup (not only a counselor, but a real grownup who knows the whole picture) they know exactly who to go to.

And that person actually knows them.

Small on purpose

We’re small on purpose. It’s the right vibe.

Frankly, it’s the kind of vibe that lets you spread out pictures on a table for a group of Junipers who are 20 years removed from camp. And that same group recognizes people, calls out names, smiles with recognition and knows a place deeply.

It’s what happens when you stay small enough for real community.

That matters.

You got this,

Jack

PS If you’re considering camp and wondering what small actually means, this is it.

​Schedule a quick call here with me to talk about whether K&E is the right fit for your family.

114 Eagle Pond Rd, Wilmot, NH 03287
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