Remembering Camp Connor

Though the sun has set on the popular lakeside YMCA camp in Poland, 50 years of campers say the memories will burn brightly.

POLAND — For nearly half a century, the Auburn-Lewiston YMCA’s Camp Connor on the shores of Lower Range Pond was a staple for hundreds of kids every summer from the area.

Swimming. Boating. Fishing. Making friends, and creating lasting memories.

“One of my favorite parts of camp were the overnights, they were the best,” said Keileigh Belanger, a camper for six years who became a counselor. “We would jump right in the water and just play games all night. One time we took the pontoon boat out on the lake, and we ran out of gas and got stuck there for a few hours,” she recalled, laughing.

On the eve of losing its water rights to Lower Range Pond, the YMCA sold Camp Connor to the town of Poland last year.

YMCA officials created a new summer camp at its facility off Stetson Road in Auburn, but former Camp Connor campers say its history won’t be forgotten.

For 47 years, the Auburn-Lewiston YMCA owned the two-acre campground and leased water access from the town so that city kids could get a day camp experience right on the water, according to Program Director Chris Shea.

The camp also hired its own lifeguards for water-based activities including swimming instruction and canoeing.

The nine-week co-ed day camp ran from June to August, depending on when school finished for the summer. It offered traditional camp activities like sports, arts and crafts, and outdoor games, along with more exciting activities like archery and canoeing.

The grounds offered a main lodge, sports field, dock and buoy system in the lake, and beachfront area.

Jim Lawler, who was the director of the A-L YMCA for more than 20 years, started Camp Connor in 1970 with Craig Jipson after a piece of land was gifted to the YMCA by Charlie Connor.

“Charlie gave the Y a strip of land and we developed it and got a license to drain the bog to make a beach area,” Lawler said. “And then we negotiated a lease from Poland for 50 years for lake access.”

“When I started we had maybe 15 kids and we would bus them in a big van,” Lawler said. Eventually, that grew into 150-175 kids a day from the L-A area.

He said the camp was so well liked because it was the only facility in town that provided a true outdoor experience for city kids.

And, he said, it was a very affordable program. About 30 to 40 percent of the campers were on a scholarship.

“A lot of those kids never left their home much, or their neighborhood. Camp gave them that opportunity to do those outdoor activities and get true camping experience, but still be back home at the end of the day,” Lawler said.

Each week of camp also featured a different theme, like carnival, superheroes or Olympics, often with a big event at the end of the week to go with the theme.

Shea said one of his favorite activities was “Camp’s Got Talent,” an afternoon talent show. “That was always a blast.”

While it offered many of the same activities as other summer camps, Camp Connor also placed a focus on values.

“It wasn’t just a babysitting service,” Shea said. “We have a strong character development piece.”

The camp focused on the four core values of the YMCA: caring, respect, honesty and responsibility.

“It’s an opportunity to teach; to help these kids become better kids,” Shea said.

The blend was successful; many campers came back week after week, summer after summer.

“You got to know them, they got to know you. And you get to know you’re making an impact, giving them a positive experience,” Shea said.

Shea said a lot of the dedicated campers went into the junior counselor program, and some even became full-blown councilors once they got to college.

“My wife went to the camp as a kid, became a CIT (counselor-in-training), then a junior counselor, counselor, and went on the become the assistant director of the Y,” Shea said. “That’s how we met.”

Shea said a lot of the camp was funded by the United Way, especially the cost of transportation. The Y bused kids from the Lewiston-Auburn area to the camp and back every day.

“Anyone could go, that was part of what made it so special,” Shea said. “We offered a lot of financial aid, too, depending on families’ needs.”

He said there were some circumstances in which families really needed the help while some just wanted to get their kids out and active.

Over the years, though, things changed. Not huge things, but cutbacks were made where they could be.

“When I first started we would take 120-160 kids each week, separated into eight groups,” Shea said. “As the years went on, we had to reduce the staff and capped at 130-150 kids a week.”

He said they used to have separate councilors for each group and leaders for each activity. Eventually, they cut down to six groups and merged the activity leaders and group councilors.

“We used to have overnights, each group had two overnights a summer. We would feed them dinner, do a late night swim and have a campfire. But as times changed, with liabilities, they stopped. I’m sure those are still fond memories for older campers,” Shea said.

One thing many of the campers have in common is that Camp Connor was a big part of their life, especially as kids.

Belanger, who now works at the YMCA in Auburn, started her experience as a camper for six years, then became a CIT and then a junior counselor. She said it was fun seeing a lot of the same people year after year.

Amanda Splude, another camper, said she went to Camp Connor from age 7 until she became a junior counselor at 16.

“There are lots of great memories. One thing was the different theme for every single week. And every Friday they would have special games and events that would pertain to the theme,” Splude said, like dances and haunted houses.

She said she even met one of her best friends at camp who she is still friends with today, years later.

And, importantly, it gave her a way to cope. “My parents went through a divorce when I was 8 or 9 years old and the best way for me to cope with it was by being at Camp Connor,” she said.

Jason Field said that for a few summers while growing up, Camp Connor was his “home away from home.”

His first week there, he was scared because it was a new place with new people. “As time went on, it was a blast. I took a swimming test and passed and did archery even though I sucked at it,” he said. “Honestly, seeing the place close saddens me.”

Jason Hutchinson said Camp Connor was where he spent 12 of the best summers of his life.

“The YMCA and Camp Connor taught me how to enjoy life and not be ignorant, jealous or an overall negative person,” he said, noting that the camp also gave him memories that will last forever.

Shea said the camp was sold to the town because the waterfront access lease was almost up.

“That lease would not have been renewed or extended because the town of Poland was looking to use that space and waterfront for their own summer programming,” Shea said. He added that the town had been interested in buying the land for a while to run its own camp.

Poland will keep the Camp Connor name and run the camp out of its Recreation Department.

The Auburn-Lewiston YMCA is still running a summer day camp, but at a new and different location, one that isn’t on the water. Shea said the A-L YMCA bought a plot of 93 acres off Stetson Road several years ago, knowing the lease for Camp Connor was coming to an end.

The land, known as the Outdoor Learning and Education Center, is serving as a replacement for Camp Connor.

The new camp has many of the same activities, minus the water-based things. There is currently a house serving as the main base, and a field.

It’s not on a lake, Shea said, but the camp has a slip-and-slide. And he hopes the Y will be able to continue to develop the offerings at the new camp and restore its popularity. This summer the Y camp took about 130 kids each week for nine weeks.