MONTICELLO — When Braden Olmstead first joined the 4-H Memorial Camp at Allerton Park and Retreat Center at 10 years old, he cried the whole time.
After the camp was over, he told his mother he never wanted to come back, because he was too homesick.
“My mom told me, ‘Braden, in a couple months, the only thing you’re going to remember are the good things.’ And she was right,” Olmstead said.
He said the rock wall and the independence he had as a camper were what stuck with him — enough to go back the next year, and the next. Now he works as waterfront staff at the 4-H camp during the summer and a sixth grade English teacher in Michigan during the school year.
The 4-H Memorial Camp has been a mainstay of Allerton Park since 1949. It is celebrating its 75th anniversary Saturday.
“There is getting to be some real excitement out there. People are submitting their old photos of their time at camp, their old staff photos,” said Camp Director Andrew Davis.
Former camper and summer staff member Bailey Connor has been digitizing the organization’s own photos for the anniversary. One of her favorites shows the camp’s lake when it was empty.
“It is drained entirely, so you can see all the way down to its base. Someone — I don’t remember if it was the director of the time — with the lake being empty, drove their car into it,” Connor said.
When Connor isn’t cooking for the camp and maintaining the grounds, she teaches at a Champaign Unit 4 special education program for post-high school young adults.
The 4-H Memorial Camp hosts over 250 kids a week. The camp focuses on helping kids spend time outdoors and build new skills. The stay and meals cost $399 for children whose families are not 4-H members.
The site at Allerton Park also hosts camps run by other organizations for kids with diabetes, military kids whose parents died or have been injured and more. Some of those camps are free for children to attend.