100+ Years of Family Memories: The Story Behind YMCA Family Camp Nawakwa
"We create lifelong memories for families. For as long as they’re here, phones get put aside and families just enjoy being together," said Alex Tyms, YMCA Family Camp Nawakwa Executive Director.
Picture a picnic table crowded elbow to elbow — grandparents and grandkids, aunts, uncles, and a dog waiting patiently underneath for scraps — and everyone trading stories over a plate of something homemade. That's an ordinary evening at Family Camp Nawakwa.
For a week, or two, or four, families trade their daily routines for cabin life, the phones go quiet, and everyone gets to just be together. Tyms says watching that shift happen never gets old.
A Century in the Woods
For more than 100 years, Family Camp Nawakwa has been a home away from home for families. It's a rare model — Family Camp Nawakwa is one of only five or six YMCA camps in the entire country built entirely around family camping, rather than sending kids off on their own.
Cabin sizes across camp range from cozy (4 people) to reunion-ready (22 people), and a new multi-generational cabin — four bedrooms, two baths, plus room for 12 — is under construction now, built for families who'd rather book one cabin together than split into two. "When families see the actual cabins, they're like, okay…I can do this," Tyms says. "I tell folks, hey, you don't have to be Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone to bring your family here!"
A couple of years ago, it was time to update one of the camp’s two playgrounds. Family Camp Nawakwa received a grant from the Home Depot Foundation for an entire brand-new play area; financial support from the Lakeland-Minocqua Rotary Club and gifts from other local donors covered the rest. Watching kids climb on it for the first time, Tyms says, made every bit of the renovation worth it.
And because every family deserves that time together, financial assistance is available for those who need it.
A Camp Built Around Its Campers
No two weeks at Family Camp Nawakwa looks the same. Summer peak seasons draw many young families; later in the season, once school's back in session, mostly empty nesters are our guests. A few things never change, though: every Sunday afternoon, families gather at North Camp Beach for the Family Camp Cookout. Additionally, every Sunday night, campers of all ages enjoy an opening campfire program.
There's plenty to fill the days in between — a Water Carnival on North Camp Beach with races and balloon tosses, a full fleet of canoes, kayaks, paddleboards, and sailboats for exploring the lake, and the camp's signature Boat-in-Breakfast, where staff cook up bacon, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes right on the water's edge.
Many of the best programming ideas haven't come from a staff meeting — they've come from campers! One longtime guest is an astronomy buff who brings his own telescope every summer; Family Camp Nawakwa puts him on the schedule so anyone who wants to see the stars up close, can. The fishing contest started the same way: a kid who loved to fish asked if there could be a contest, and now it runs three age divisions deep with a medallion on the line for the biggest catch each week.
Family Camp Nawakwa also has a plan to welcome new campers. Through Family Camp Nawakwa’s Ambassador program, new families get paired with a veteran camp family before they even arrive.
One of the camp’s quieter traditions might be the most impactful: internet only reaches the office and lodge, not the cabins, and there's no cabin TV. While parents always have enough signal strength to tackle work emails if they truly need to, by Tuesday, most young campers have stopped carrying their phones altogether.
All Season Camp
And Family Camp Nawakwa doesn't close for the winter. Summer runs into a nine-night stretch through Labor Day, then homeschool weeks, specialty weekends (women's, men's, a harvest festival), holiday camp from the day after Christmas through New Year's, and a full winter season with ice skating, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, ice fishing, and a tubing hill, all from winterized cabins that sleep up to 22 people. Whatever season a family needs it, camp's ready for them.
Explore nature. Try something new. Make a family memory that sticks. That's been the promise at Family Camp Nawakwa since 1924, and it still holds 100 years and a freshly rebuilt playground later. Says Alex Tyms, "Camp Nawakwa is almost like a family reunion — you get to be the favorite cousin everybody likes to visit."