Summer Programs
YMCA Camp Onyahsa offers a wide range of camps and activities.
After a Wonderful Summer of 2020, Onyahsa Looks Ahead
YMCA Camp Onyahsa will enter its 123rd year in 2021! We will build upon our proud past to deliver excellence in youth development and family experiences, with offerings contingent upon the public health context and the emerging needs of our community.
Two sets of programming are in draft form, and both will build upon the positive experiences we had this past summer:
1. A Continuation of the Covid-19 Crisis
The Camp had a special--and healthy--summer in 2020, despite the Covid pandemic, and is poised to offer similar programs next year if warranted:
Day Camp Joheh-goh; three day camps consisting of three “pods” of up to five campers each, adhering to responsible Covid protocols Mondays-Fridays.
Family Camp weekends: Staff-led programs overnight for a limited number of families from Saturday mornings through Sunday afternoons.
Family Cottage rental: the rental of our fully-equipped lakefront cottage for families that wish to do their own programming, seven days per week.
YMCA Fitness classes: outdoors on Sunday afternoons, with Covid mitigation protocols in-place.
If the pandemic worsens, we will adjust offerings to keep our participants, staff, and their respective families safe.
2. A Covid-mitigated Summer
If the Covid crisis abates by spring, we will offer the following from early June to mid-August:
Youth Resident Camp; Sunday afternoons-Saturday mornings for youth ages 7-13, Teen Camp for fourteen-year-olds, and Leader Training for 15 and 16 year-olds.
Camp Yowidica; a week of resident camp for youth who have Type-1 diabetes.
Day Camp in the Woods; a small day camp for youth ages 5-12, Mondays-Fridays.
Mini-Camp; half-week overnight sessions for children ages 5-10.
This scenario will incorporate many of the new and positive activities and practices the pandemic pushed us to try in the summer of 2020.
September-May
Under either scenario, we will expand our September-May family camps, cabin rentals (via Airbnb and Hipcamp), youth programs (day if necessary and overnight if it is safe). If the pandemic has abated, we will return to site rental opportunities (weddings, receptions, family reunions, organizations and church use- that are either timely or had been postponed).
We are also exploring the need for and our ability to deliver daily afterschool programs and licensed childcare as we continue to improve our facility especially by addition year-round and plumbed accommodations and program venues.
