SOMER NEVER ENDS

On the morning of Friday, August 10th, campers boarded buses and cars for the journey home and, in a mere matter of hours, camp was over and the summer had come to an end. Or had it? While the regular camp season may have concluded, Somerset remained alive and kicking well into early October.

Just hours after saying goodbye to our last camper, nearly 70 moms and their daughters (both current and future campers) arrived for an action-packed Mother-Daughter weekend, complete with the best camp activities, a mini Somer Cup, amazing food, hilarious evening programs, and s’mores and campfires under the stars. For those with a mySomerset account, photos from the weekend are live! ( if you need an account).

From there, we welcomed soccer players from various Massachusetts middle and high schools for an intensive week of coaching and team building before quickly flipping the camp over to host our friends from Experience Camps for Grieving Children. This incredible organization has been operating a boys program at Manitou since 2009 and we were honored to partner with them as they expanded to include a program for girls in Maine for the first time ever.

Finally, after a quick break for Labor Day weekend, we were into wedding season. It’s quite remarkable to witness a happy couple and their family enjoying their special day along East Pond and experience the same thrill from being at Somerset that our campers and counselors experienced all summer long. Even a big group of adults love a weekend at camp! Indeed, weddings are such a great parallel to what makes camp so special. The days we spend together in Maine are all about adventure, opportunities, family, new friends, and love. And few things are as synonymous with those traits as the journey that begins when two people say, “I do.”

-JH