Byron Forest Preserve District issued the following announcement on Mar. 27.
It sounds like Illinois is moving forward! For now, day care and camps can be open at higher capacity as long as we follow health care guidance. In regards to our summer day camp, I will plan for the best, hoping that our metrics for vaccinations and positivity rate meet Phase 5 requirements before June. Regardless, I am currently working on scheduling field trips and planning weekly and daily activities. Yes, field trips! State guidance about field trips is still a little vague, but the Byron Bus Garage has confirmed that we can use their busses this summer. In the interest of planning on the safe side, many of our field trips will be to locations where we will be the only group at the facility, such as Plum Hollow and White Pines Skating. Pools had previously also allowed only one rental group at a time, and that may or may not be the case this summer. We will skip most of the typically crowded destinations, with the exception of a few venues who have spoken with us about how they are safely handling groups (including Santa’s Village, yay).
A “normal” summer of camp runs with:
Full capacity of 45 campers per week, 6-7 counselors, and 5-6 junior counselors/week.
Field trips twice a week.
Indoor and outdoor activities.
Mixed groups of campers throughout the week.
If we are in Phase 5, the above will probably still be true *but* we may need to keep campers in the same group throughout the week and may need to limit indoor activities. If we are still in the “bridge” phase for part of the summer, we will definitely be in small groups with limited indoor activities.
However, all of this allows us a chance to reboot and rethink our camp schedule. There are ways to adapt to meet the CDC and state requirements while keeping aspects of camp that the kids love. We will do more things in small groups no matter which Phase we’re in, which means that campers and counselors will have more flexibility with choosing activities. Groups will have a little more independence. There will be some “home bases” set up and spread out rather than crowding into the shelter for instructions and meals. We think these changes and adaptations will be a positive thing and will encourage us to grow and try new things!
Our plan is still to start sign-ups on April 19th for previous camp families and referrals, and open registration for new families on May 3rd.
I’ve heard from some of you asking about junior counselors. The state guidance seems to be leaning toward larger groups, which is a great sign! If you have a teen 13-15 who wants to volunteer and I haven’t heard from you, please email me or stop in (janet@byronforestpreserve.com). I will have more information on our counselor week (June 1-4) soon.
Hope you are able to get out and enjoy the spring weather! More updates soon.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Byron Forest Preserve District
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