Camp Arcadia Announces Plans for “Lite” 2021 Season

Camp Arcadia’s leadership, the Lutheran Camp Association board of directors, and the Camp management team has made the decision to reduce our capacity for all of our retreats for the 2021 season. This transition to a reduced capacity “Lite” model is done with the safety of our guests and staff in the forefront of our minds and to help reduce the potential risk of transmission and spread of COVID-19. 

While we dearly hoped that we would have a full and normal summer, it no longer seemed prudent to continue to plan for one. We do not know exactly the restrictions we will face in the summer, but by limiting the attendance now, we can more effectively plan for the summer as we hire staff and create the program. We also want to give you the time to make your summer plans.

While we dearly hoped that we would have a full and normal summer, it no longer seemed prudent to continue to plan for one. We do not know exactly the restrictions we will face in the summer, but by limiting the attendance now, we can more effectively plan for the summer as we hire staff and create the program. We also want to give you the time to make your summer plans.

We are saddened that this means that not everyone that wants to come to Camp will be able to attend in 2021. If you have submitted a family week registration you are probably anxious to know if you got in or not. 

Please know that we are working hard to finish the room drawing and we will be sending out emails to family retreat registrants on Friday, February 5th. We appreciate your patience and ask you to refrain from calling regarding your registration until after you have received your status email on Friday.

Teen Retreat registrants will be receiving their status email on Friday as well.

Family Weeks will be restricted to 125 guests. Teen Retreats (Alpha & Omega) will be restricted to 80 guests. Other retreats will have restrictions as well.

Below you will find a few resources that we encourage you to watch or read to help you understand what this means for you and your plans to attend Camp Arcadia in 2021.

“Lite” 2021 Season Announcement Video: Chip and Jess walk you the decision to go with the “Lite” model and what it means for each of our retreats in 2021.

Expectations for the following retreats:

• Family Retreats 
• Teen Retreats 
• Other Retreats  

 

“Lite” 2021 Season Video Announcement

Chip and Jess walk you through why the decision was made to transition to the “Lite” model and what the 2021 Camp experience will be like.

We cover a lot in this video and to help you locate the information you are most interested in we have provided the specific times of the various topics covered.

• The decision (0:00 – 2:30)
• Family Weeks (2:30 – 12:00)
• Teen Weeks (12:00 – 17:00)
• Other Retreats (17:00 – 19:55)
• Closing Comments (19:55 – 21:51)

Family Retreat Expectations

Camp Arcadia’s leadership, the Lutheran Camp Association board of directors and the Camp management team has made the decision to reduce our capacity to 125 for the Family Week retreats of 2021.  This transition to a reduced capacity “Lite” model is done with the safety of our guests and staff in the forefront of our minds and to help reduce the potential risk of transmission and spread of COVID-19. 

If you have submitted a family week registration you are probably anxious to know if you got in or not. Please know that we are working hard to finish the room drawing and we will be sending out emails to registrants on Friday, February 5th. 

This transition to a reduced capacity “Lite” model affects the Camp in these ways:

• 6 Day Retreat: In order to lessen the possibility of COVID-19 transmission, Family Weeks 1- 6 will be reduced one night, thereby giving us a 24 hour period between retreat guests. Family Weeks 1-6 will continue to have 5 days of the Dean and Morning Youth Program, with the retreat concluding on Friday with lunch.  The dates and rates for the retreats are adjusted to reflect this reduction. Family Weeks 7-9 will continue to end Friday with breakfast due to the transition of staff and guests.
• Assigned Shared Bathrooms: Families will be sharing bathroom facilities with other families this season.  Families will be assigned a specific restroom (one for males, one for females). Guests with private bathrooms in their room will continue to be private. There will continue to be no public restrooms in the Inn.  
• Program: We plan to offer more programmatic activities in this summer’s version of the “Lite” model. This will include, but not limited to, the morning youth program for children ages (0 – College age), sporting activities like softball, and some tournaments. 
• Outdoor Activities: Just like last summer, we will strive to do as many activities outside as possible. We will continue to evaluate the ability to use our indoor game room (Wigwam’s Round Up) and the Trading Post. 
• Meals: We plan to offer indoor meal service for breakfast and dinner, with lunch being served as a take-out lunch. 

 

Things we will continue to do to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and spread include: 

1. We will continue to do a COVID-19 symptom screening upon arrival for our guests and ask any symptoms that occur during the week be reported. 
2. We will continue to be diligent about hand hygiene including frequent hand washing and hand sanitizer available in Camp’s high traffic areas.  
3. We will continue to sanitize high touch surfaces on a daily basis including door knobs and hand railings. 
4. We will continue to facilitate as much programming outdoors as possible including activities, Dean and Morning Youth Program and worship and strive to increase ventilation in indoor spaces that must be used including rooms and bathrooms.  
5. Masks will be required in the indoor areas of Camp and at some activities. 
6. We will continue to ask that guests closely observe their health and contacts in the days leading up to their stay at Camp, and guests stay home if they have been in contact with anyone recently diagnosed with COVID-19, have been diagnosed with COVID themselves within the previous 10 days, or if they show any symptoms associated with COVID-19. See the CDC Symptom Screening List.

 

Teen Retreat Expectations

Camp Arcadia’s leadership, Lutheran Camp Association board of directors and Camp management team, have decided to make adjustments to our Teen Weeks – Alpha and Omega – in light of the pandemic. These changes, while necessary, will not change the fact that we will continue to value and keep our mission to provide an environment for teens to encounter Christ, deepen their faith, grow in relationship with peers, and spend a week in a Christian community. 

Guided by the research conducted by CampDoc, CampNurse and ACA and supported by the Christian Camp and Conference Association on camp’s who ran programming in 2020 and followed CDC guidelines, Camp Arcadia will be implementing these changes to our Teen Weeks to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and spread. 

• Capacity: We will have limited capacity for our teen retreats.  Instead of hosting 165 teens, we are limiting the retreat to around 80 teens per retreat.
• Dates: In order to facilitate the transition between staff and guests the Alpha and Omega teen retreats will end after lunch on Friday, instead of after breakfast on Saturday. The new dates are Alpha Teen Retreat will be June 13 – 18 and the Omega Teen Retreat will be June 20 – 25. 
• Meals: All of our meals, when possible, will be served outside.  Teen’s will eat with their group for the whole week. 
• Housing: Teens will be housed in rooms with people listed on their housing request form.  The rooms will be kept to a smaller capacity.
• Groups: Teens will be placed into a group for the retreat.  These groups will be consistent over the course of the week and teens will be in a group with their roommates. Groups will eat together, play together, engage in Bible study together and will be able to take “mask breaks” together.  
• Masks: Masks will be worn at all times except when in a teen’s room, sleeping, showering, eating or swimming (canoe trip).  Masks will be worn inside and outside when interacting with other teens and staff. There will be designated times throughout the day when a teen is with their group that they will be able to remove their mask.  
• Spaces:  We will be making the most of our outdoor spaces at Camp including moving Bible study and Vespers outside, weather permitting.  

 

Things we will do to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and spread. 

1. We will do a COVID-19 symptom screening upon arrival for our guests and ask any symptoms that occur during the week be reported. 
2. We will be diligent about hand hygiene including frequent hand washing and hand sanitizer available in Camp’s high traffic areas.  
3. We will sanitize high touch surfaces on a daily basis including door knobs and hand railings. 
4. We will facilitate as much programming outdoors as possible including activities, meals, bible study and worship and strive to increase ventilation in indoor spaces that must be used including rooms and bathrooms.  
5. We will continue to ask that guests closely observe their health and contacts in the days leading up to their stay at Camp, and guests stay home if they have been in contact with anyone recently diagnosed with COVID-19, have been diagnosed with COVID themselves within the previous 10 days, or if they show any symptoms associated with COVID-19. See the CDC Symptom Screening List.
6. Depending on test availability, teen campers may be asked to get a COVID test prior to arrival at Camp.  We are exploring the possibility of doing on-site rapid testing for all campers upon arrival. We will keep our registered participants informed as the season progresses. 

 

Other Retreat Expectations

Camp Arcadia is planning on hosting all of our scheduled retreats we had planned for 2021 and are currently accepting registrations for them. Below we outline any specific capacity limitations we anticipate for each retreat and our expectations for the experience, along with our COVID guidelines. 

Summer Starter: This adult retreat, formerly called the Golf & The Gospel retreat, normally has around 40 – 60 guests. We anticipate being able to accomodate a similar amount of guests in 2021. Breakfast and dinner will be served and lunch will be take-out. 

Lutherhostel: In order to lessen the possibility of COVID-19 transmission, the Lutherhostel retreat will be reduced one night, thereby giving us a 24 hour period between retreat guests. The rates will be adjusted to reflect this change.  Lutherhostel will begin Saturday afternoon (August 28) with our first meal at 6 p.m.. The retreat will conclude after lunch on Thursday (September 2).

We normally accommodate 60 – 80 guests. We plan to accommodate 40 – 60 in 2021. All meals will be served in the dining room.  Programmatic activities will be held outside when the weather permits, but due to the older age of the guests we will offer more indoor activities with masks required than our family retreats. 

Men’s & Women’s Retreats: We anticipate being able to accommodate between 100 – 125 depending on housing configurations. Breakfast and dinner will be served and lunch will be take-out. All of our programs will be outside as weather permits.

Fall Confirmation Retreats: We will be working with church groups to limit attendance to around 80 guests (students and chaperons).

General Expectations of the “Lite” model on our other retreats

• Shared bathrooms: Guests will be assigned to bathrooms in the Inn and will therefore be sharing them with a limited amount of guests. There will continue to be no public restrooms in the Inn.  
• Program: We plan to offer more programmatic activities this summer than we did last summer.
• Outdoor Activities: Just like last season, we will strive to do as many activities outside as the weather permits. We will continue to evaluate the ability to use our indoor game room (Wigwam’s Round Up) and the Trading Post.

We will implement our same measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and spread that are listed for the family retreats.