Dart-Lo plans day camps this summer

Camp Fire USA Inland Northwest Council announced last week that its popular Camp Dart-Lo will be open for day camp for two weeks this summer.

Last year, Camp Fire announced that a $135,000 budget shortfall forced them to cancel the day camp program.

Former Camp Dart-Lo director Tracy Taitch has volunteered to coordinate the camps, scheduled from July 9 to July 13 and July 16 to July 20, open to children ages 3 to 16. Day camp will be offered at its usual schedule at Camp Sweyolakan on Lake Coeur d’Alene and at Camp Aowakiya, near Kellogg.

“This will be Dart-Lo’s 67th season providing high-quality outdoor recreation programming in a fun, safe and nurturing environment for area boys and girls,” Taitch said. “I’m looking forward to continuing this tradition and sending every camper home feeling happy and healthy.”

Parents are encouraged to sign children up quickly, as each week has a maximum of 120 campers.

The camp, located just north of Spokane along the Little Spokane River, enrolled 600 kids in day camp last summer – 240 of which were subsidized partially or fully by Camp Fire. Another 180 children came from different youth organizations to spend one to three days at Camp Dart-Lo. Aside from a $1 daily fee from each child to use the pool, these children were also subsidized by Camp Fire.

The cost of camp maintenance and a declining number of paying campers was the main reason for Camp Fire’s budget shortfall.

As part of a reorganization that began last fall, Camp Fire brought in eight new board members and asked eight former board members to come back and help out.

On Friday, Camp Fire also announced that Melissa Cocks, who owns two Spokane UPS Store franchises, has been elected president of its board of directors, replacing Burke Jackowich of Washington Trust Bank, who was president for two years. Jackowich remains on the board.