More than one million adults attend camp each year, looking to relive their childhood memories or experience a summertime tradition for the first time.
While kids' camp attendance has declined, forcing many organizations to shutter their cabins and sell off their land, the number of camps for grown-ups has swelled faster than a mosquito bite, totaling 800. That's an estimated 10% increase a year over the past 10 years, according to the American Camp Association affiliate GrownUpCamps.com.
And when campfire s'mores and sing-alongs are mixed with "flip cup" tournaments and a bunch of singles cavorting to DJ music, the result is a rowdy sleepaway camp experience unlike the one you may remember from childhood.
I recently attended Club Getaway in Kent, Connecticut, which hosts 10,000 adult campers annually, to see what all the buzz is about.
I never went to sleepaway camp as a child. Every June, my lucky classmates left for northern New England and returned two months later with macramé bracelets, tanned skin, and endless stories about “camp friends.” I felt as if I were missing out on this whole other world.
I recently had the opportunity to attend summer camp for adults, which was a lot like how I imagine kids' summer camp is — except with booze, sex, and gossip.
I spent the weekend at Club Getaway, an all-inclusive sports and adventure resort nestled in the Berkshire Mountains of Kent, Connecticut. While the camp hosts corporate retreats, school groups, and children’s camps during the workweek, weekends are reserved for adult programming. Over 10,000 grown-ups come every year.
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