The snow fell from a slate-gray sky, and she had to shout to be heard above an icy wind. But to hear Dori Zvili talk, you'd have thought the corn was high and it was the middle of July.
"Just imagine all of this a beautiful green color," said Zvili, director of Camp Milldale in Reisterstown, gesturing toward the camp's 150 frigid and decidedly wan acres as she gave a guided tour yesterday. "The water will be blue. Kids will be in the pools, swimming, running around everywhere. It'll be here before you know it."
It can take a leap of faith to envision the joys of summer when it is 25 degrees outside, but that's exactly what Zvili asked of the grown-ups and children tramping the soggy site with her yesterday. They were just 30 of the thousands of parents and kids taking part in what has become an annual Baltimore-area ritual: weighing options for summer camps that won't begin for four or five months.
FOR THE RECORD - An article in Monday's editions about summer camp preparations incorrectly stated the publication date of Maryland Family magazine's camp guide. It appeared in last month's issue but is still available on the Web at www.marylandfamilymagazine.com.
The Baltimore Sun regrets the errors.
"It's never too early to start looking," said Cheryl Clemens, editor of Maryland Family magazine, which published its yearly Camp Guide last week. "People talk about summer camps year-round, and now is the time to get serious."
Industry experts are gauging how the economic slowdown will affect business this year, but it is clear that the past decade has seen an explosion in interest in local summer camps. Clemens' publication, a property of the Baltimore Sun Media Group, had to increase its page count by 40 percent to list more than 300 camps this year.
The list includes residential camps; day camps such as Milldale, which offers everything from canoeing and swimming to experience in organic farming; and a proliferation of specialty camps that focus on sports broadcasting, etiquette and everything in between.
"There are even family camps now," said Clemens. "If I were a kid, I don't know if I'd want to attend a camp with my parents, but those are getting more popular."
Even in normal economic times, paying for summer camp can be a challenge. The YMCA's Y Journeys in Camping Fun, which operates camps in six Maryland counties over 10 weeks and had more than 3,400 campers last year, is among the more affordable, with tuition of $100 to $225 per week, depending on age and other factors. Parents called Milldale a reasonable choice at $300 to $400 per week. Residential camps can run in excess of $8,000 for a full session of eight weeks.
Perhaps because most camps have gotten creative, there is little evidence that the economic downturn will spell disaster this season.
