JUNE 18 • 2020 | 21

Camp Walden Closes
for the Summer

Family Camp considered as an option.

C

amp Walden in
Cheboygan, Michigan,
announced on June 6
that it won’
t open as a residen-
tial summer camp this year due
to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Camp Walden is a popular
destination for many Metro
Detroit Jewish families, wel-
coming roughly 400-450 chil-
dren throughout the summer.
“It was a long and tortured
decision-making process,” said
Liz Stevens, who owns the
camp with her husband, Scott
Ruthart.
“We had to envision what
camp would look like if we
were cohorting and social dis-
tancing from one another. We
had to feel confident that if we
had a case or cases at camp that
we could properly address the
quarantining and isolation that
would be involved with some-
thing like that,” she said.
“We finally had to just admit
to ourselves that we just could
not see it coming together in a
way that would be satisfying for
our families and our kids com-
ing to camp.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
issued guidelines for residential

camps to mitigate the spread of
COVID-19 on June 12.
“The state guidance …
resembles that given to day
camps, with some alterations
for residential camps that per-
form rigorous and repeated
testing, strict cohorting and
constant health monitoring of

campers and staff,” Walden’
s
statement read.
“Regardless … of the avail-
ability of testing … our own
medical advisers, with whom
we have been conferring for
months, continue to raise
questions we cannot answer
and pose scenarios — as statis-
tically unlikely as they might
be — that would derail a camp
session at Walden.”
Camp Walden continues
to explore the idea of Family
Camps, which would begin in
mid-July and run five nights
each. The families would have
to stay at the camp at all times
for the five nights, socially
distance from other families
and wear face coverings during
brief interactions with camp
staff.
Stevens said parents are enti-
tled to a full refund of tuition
for the 2020 summer camp
season. They can also roll the
money over to the 2021 season.
“We know your children
yearn for Walden summers.
Their healthy development
requires the socialization, the
fresh air and the camaraderie
of friends more than ever,”
read the statement. “You, their
parents, desperately want them
to have this and, in some cases,
truly need a mental-health
break of your own. We are
profoundly disappointed —
crushed, really — that we
cannot provide that outlet this
summer.”

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF CAMP WALDEN