About a month ago I happened to come across the Annual Camp Guide in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. A week of so later I received the newsletter from the Freeborn County Museum and Historical Village which mentioned four of their upcoming camp events. And even more recently the spring 2003 program booklet from Community Education and the Albert Lea Family Y with a listing of still more camp events was sent to my address.

I’ll have more comments about the local camp events later in the column. Meanwhile, let’s delve a little more into the St. Paul paper’s guide.

As the headline on this column clearly indicates, there are two kinds of camps.

One is the day camp which can last for a few hours a day to a full day to a week or more. The children in these day camps are still spending the rest of the days and nights at their homes.

The other type is the residential camp which is located somewhere else, like maybe up north in the woods and/or next to a lake. These summer camps can be rather crude places with tents to fancier locales with cabins or lodges.

According to the Pioneer Press: &uot;Children who attend a camp have the unique opportunity to create a community specific to their interests and age. Parents should think of camp as a way to extend their child’s education outside of school, in environments that emphasize experiential learning, … (and) social skills.&uot;

The day camps featured in the St. Paul paper’s guide are mostly based in and around the Twin Cities. They are listed under the categories of arts, academics, computers, cultural, general, history, leadership, math and science, outdoors and sports.

The residential camps are located all over the Upper Midwest and listed under the categories of arts, careers, computers, general, history, languages, leadership, math and science, outdoors and specialty.

Only three of these camps are even close to this area, They are: Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival in Decorah, Iowa; Fort Union Civil War Camp in New Ulm; and the High School Leadership Institute at Winona State University.

The specialty category includes residential camps for children with physical and/or medical challenges. These include camps for children with asthma and heart problems. However, I didn’t find any listings for Camp Courage or Camp Needlepoint/Daypoint for children with diabetes.

Now, let’s localize this camp topic.

There will be four separate camp events at the Freeborn County Historical

Village this summer. &uot;Grandmas and Granddaughters Living History Day Camp&uot; will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 17. &uot;Grandpas and Grandsons Living History Camp&uot; will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on June 19. &uot;Korny Day&uot; for second- through sixth-graders will be on June 24 from 9 a.m. to noon. &uot;A Senior Moment at the Museum&uot; is scheduled for July 15 from 9 a.m. to noon.

For more information about these four camps, call (507) 373-8003.

Community Education and the Albert Lea Family Y are scheduling several sports camps this summer. They are: &uot;Swim Camp,&uot; &uot;Cross-country Camp,&uot; &uot;Boys Basketball Camp,&uot; &uot;2003 Tiger Volleyball Camp,&uot; &uot;Seventh Annual Southern Minnesota Sports Football Camp.&uot; and &uot;Girls Basketball Summer Hoops Academy.&uot;

For more information about these camps, call (507) 379-4834.

Also, this summer there will be scheduled events for area students at Camp Morraine, at several area Bible camps, and at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center near Lanesboro as featured on page 11 of the Tuesday, April 8, issue of the Tribune.

Tribune feature writer Ed Shannon’s column appears Fridays in the Tribune.