The irony is painful: On the year that it would have celebrated its 100th anniversary, Camp Spaulding is shut for good and up for sale.
The financial strain of running the 57-acre summer camp at the intersection of Bog and River roads in Concord as a hybrid model, half subsidized and half in the open market, proved too great, said Borja Alvarez de Toledo, president of Waypoint, the non-profit that has owned Camp Spaulding since 1921. Waypoint was formerly known as Child and Family Services.
“This was very, very difficult. … It has been really an excellent program for us, and one that really has allowed for all these years for kids who could never dream of going to camp, to have an incredible experience,” Alvarez de Toledo said. “We still believe in the idea of sending kids to camp for an overnight experience; the question is, does it have to be in our camp? Are we better off using other camps that are better equipped to give the experience?”
Waypoint is a social service agency focusing on youth and families, and running a summer camp for kids aged 8 to 15 has never been its strength.
“We don’t do youth activities. We don’t have counselors around. … Every single summer we had to hire staff for the program – really challenging,” Alvarez de Toledo said. “The HR department dreaded it every year.”
Five years ago, Waypoint contracted with YMCA of Greater Nashua to run the camp, with half of the 240 children in the overnight program provided by Waypoint on a subsidized model and half paying fees of roughly $1,500. Waypoint also used Camp Spaulding for day camp.
Neither side was able to meet its goal, with about 200 kids attending each summer, creating a crunch meeting the roughly $400,000 annual operating budget.
“We weren’t able to serve enough children to make it work financially on a long-term basis,” said Mike LaChance, CEO of the Nashua YMCA.
Competition with other day camps in New Hampshire proved too difficult, Alvarez de Toledo said.
For one thing, Camp Spaulding’s location has become an obstacle. Although it is very close to the Contoocook River it doesn’t have riverfront access – kids had to cross River Road to get to the camp’s docks – and the current in that area means swimming isn’t allowed.
The age of the facilities was another problem.
“The pool was built 42 years ago. It is too small for 240 kids. We really need a completely new pool. And the soccer fields are not really soccer fields, they are just fields,” Alvarez de Toledo said.
“It would take $4 million to $5 million to bring it to a level that would make it competitive with other camps. The question posed by board and management team: would that bring the camp to a level where it would compete in the marketplace? We weren’t sure.”
Waypoint is instead contracting with Granite YMCA, which runs a boys’ camp and a girls’ camp on Lake Winnipesaukee and other day camps this coming summer, although right now it’s unclear whether camps will take place at all due to the pandemic.
They have put the camp on the market and Alvarez de Toledo says he’s not sure who might be interested.
“The pavilion, where kids had lunch, I would love that to be used. Perhaps a retirement community?” he said.
Since thousands of people have enjoyed Camp Spaulding over the decades, the sale is sure to bring out lots of memories.
“I’m hearing from people who say, ‘I went three years to Camp Spaulding and this is what kept me going even though I had difficult experience at home’,” Alvarez de Toledo said. “But it makes no sense to do it in our own camp, when someone else can do it better.”
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)
