Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Arrive early and bring a tent. That's the best advice for parents wanting to register their children for spots in the Steamboat Springs Summer Day Camp program.

Registration for the camp is Thursday.

"They are wonderfully crazy," Steamboat youth program coordinator Jennifer Travis said of camp registration days. "The last 10 years we've had a line out the door. I would imagine we will have a line again this year."

Camp sign-up begins at 7:30 a.m. Thursday at the Parks and Recreation office.

For $26 a day -- $23 a day for rising fifth- and sixth-graders -- the youth summer camp programs provide a wealth of recreation-based summer entertainment and give parents an affordable child care option their kids enjoy, Travis said.

"Most parents would agree that for $26 a day it's a pretty good value," Travis said. "(Kids) are safe and occupied all day long and they have stories to tell at the dinner table, which is always a good thing."

This year's camp programs are divided into three sections: Incredible Steamboat Sneakers for children entering first and second grades; Steamboat Explorers Camp for children entering third and fourth grades; and Rocky Mountain Adventure Club for children entering fifth and sixth grades.

Parents and guardians can sign children up for camp program activities on a day-by-day basis. There are 24 slots available each day for each age group.

Camps begin June 9 and end Aug. 22. Each camp day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 5:30 p.m.

Wide-ranging activities include whitewater rafting, horseback riding, rock climbing and swimming. Camping trips, which will cost parents an additional activities fee, are also offered. Kids love all the different activities available to them, Travis said.

"If it's safe, fun and kids like it, we're doing it," Travis said. "We have a great group of activities."

This year, the seventh and eighth grade camp program has changed. Rising seventh- and eighth-graders are eligible to sign-up for a counselor-in-training program.

Those who make it through the application process will perform counselor-type duties at camp programs for the younger children.

Applications for the counselor-in-training program are due May 14. Group interviews are scheduled for May 15-16.

For more information call 879-4300 or visit www.steamboat-springs.net/recreation/recreation_department.htm.