Days at Betsey Cox

7:30

Wake Up Bell

Time to rise and shine and prepare for the day’s adventures!

8:00

Breakfast

Yum!!! Our experienced kitchen staff will lay out a full breakfast with options for every dietary requirement. Our camp kitchen buys locally whenever possible and focuses on healthy, plentiful choices.

9:30

First Period Activities

Listen up, everyone! At the end of breakfast, morning announcements clarify for campers the array of options for their morning. With the support of their counselors, campers make their activity choices from among our sixteen daily options and other special trips/events.

10:30

Second Period Activities

On to another adventure! Campers choose to elect a second activity or remain to finish an activity they began first period.

11:30

Free Time

Hang-out time! The forty-five minutes before lunch provide time for campers to return to their own cabins or to catch up with friends across the camp community. Many people hang out together in the Adirondack chairs in the main yard. It’s a relaxing time!

12:15

Lunch

A feast awaits! Really! Upon entering the dining hall, campers pass by a sumptuous salad bar that includes fresh vegetables that the camp community helps to grow in our camp gardens. Lunch includes tasty dishes for all dietary requirements and is served family style in cabin groups. Campers recount morning adventures and the meal is liberally sprinkled with camp singing!

1:30

Rest Hour

Reading, quiet games, letter writing, a mid-day snooze in cabins are all part of a healthy catch-up hour before the afternoon gears up!

2:30

Third Period Activities

All activities resume! Two more choices! Hooray!

3:30

Fourth Period Activities

Take the plunge! It’s free swim time! Or…other activities are open, of course!

4:30

Free Time

A longer block of free time allows campers to cement friendships, to enjoy free-time activities led by our leadership program or to relax in the cabins. Campers can while away the hour in the tree house, the library, or other places that become special to them.

5:45

Dinner

We gather again for another delicious meal and singing. The lodge is filled with stories of the day and the laughter that goes with them!

7:30

Evening Program

Really? There’s more? Yes! A creative and fun set of after-dinner activities round out the camp day. Many are designed to support cabin bonding while others are planned for the whole camp community. Everyone brings their day to a happy close!

8:30

Reading and story telling by lamplight or firelight

Everyone enjoys a good story told or read in the soft ambiance of a summer evening by lamplight. Our second-year leaders enjoy reading aloud to their campers from books brought by the girls or books from our own camp library. And then.. sleep, to close another busy camp day!

8:00

Cafeteria breakfast!

It’s a sleep-in morning for those who love a longer sleeping-bag snuggle! Between 8:00 and 8:45, campers and staff wander down to the lodge where donuts and bagels from local bakeries add to standard breakfast fare.

8:45

Long bell

Last call for breakfast!

9:50

Saturday morning news

Announcements remind everyone of the morning’s activity choices.

10:00

Saturday Morning Activity Period

All activities are open, and…one choice includes watching staff from Betsey Cox and Camp Sangamon play softball. That can be amusing! Campers can visit friends and relatives from our brother camp during the game.

11:00

Free swim and free time!

For those who enjoy a longer free-swim, this is the time! Other campers enjoy the time to write letters, kick around a soccer ball, or enjoy other activities of their own devising for an hour before lunch.

12:15

Lunch

Another visit to the best restaurant on Betsey Cox Lane!

1:30

Rest Hour

Camp siestas are the best kind!

2:30

Saturday All Camp Activity

Our third-year leadership Staf invent the most amazing theme days! Saturday afternoons and evenings could bring Harry Potter and friends to camp with staff playing the roles! Or it could be camp olympics, complete with serious and silly activities. Theme days are limited only by the imaginations of our Staf and we have found that to be limitless!

3:30

Free Swim

And free time! Many theme days involve a continuing search for a hidden treasure of some sort. You never know where that may be!

5:45

Dinner

Theme days always include a total re-decorating of the lodge to fit the theme. The meal also follows the theme day. Campers enter the dining hall to find themselves transported to a different place altogether, though of course, the food is still delightful!

7:00

Evening Activity

Theme day winds down with an all-camp activity. What a day!

8:30

Off to cabins for bedtime and a story

Got an adventure from the day’s special activities to share? This is the time!

8:00

Late Wake Up

Sunday morning includes an extra half hour of sleep! Theme-day activities the day before make this a happy circumstance!

8:15

Waitress

Last call for breakfast!

8:30

Breakfast

Sunday breakfast….a bit special!

10:00

Sunday Seminars – special activities

Sunday Seminars, designed by staff, eager campers and the Leadership program give everyone a chance to teach a special activity other than those offered daily. These range from learning international games (net ball, rugby, etc.), to dance and art offerings, to special on-camp walks–anything goes. Campers can develop their own seminar to teach.

11:00

Sunday short free swim bell

Cool off before lunch!

12:15

Lunch

Sunday dinner is also special!

1:30

Rest Hour

2:30

Sunday Seminars/Open waterfront

A second new round of Sunday Seminars intrigue everyone! Or…once a week, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, campers may choose to relax and swim all afternoon. Your choice!

5:15

Vespers – Community Meeting

We call our weekly community meeting “Vespers” because it is an evening gathering. This is a time when we come together to thoughtfully consider important topics in our community and in the broader world. It’s helpful, it’s inspirational, and it’s fun to take the time to pause for reflection in a busy camp week.

6:15

Cookout and Cabin night

Missing hot dogs, burgers, veggie burgers, grilled cheese, and certainly, s’mores? Sunday nights each cabin cooks out on its own outdoor fireplace (or inside in rainy weather). Cabin cookouts blend right into cabin night–an evening activity designed by cabin staff and their campers for pure fun!

8:30

Off to cabins for bedtime and a story

7:30

Wake Up Bell

Time to rise and shine and prepare for the day’s adventures!

7:45

Waitress

8:00

Breakfast

9:45

First Bell to signal trip departures

10:00

Second Bell to signal trip departures

4:00

Trips return to camp

5:30

Waitress Bell

5:45

Dinner

A good spaghetti dinner is the tradition on hike day. There is a yummy vegetarian marinara sauce served,or you can choose pesto, sausages and onions, or create your own combination. Plenty of garlic bread to be had as well. Campers and staff from each trip share a trip reports-highlights of the day, with everyone during announcements. Some are in the form of a song or dance!

7:00

Social with Camp Sangamon, our brother camp

Socials happen once a week with our brother camp. We alternate hosting each other. Campers get to know their brother/sister cabins of their same age group. There is music but not everyone dances. There is often a theme to dress up as- for example, dress as your favorite superhero, Contra dance with a local live band, or 80’s or Disco. It is a fun time!

Spring 2025 Bubbler!

It has been a long while since a BC Bubbler! We are excited to share some spring news with you all! Our Family Information and forms are [...]

New Year’s Eve Message

Happy New Year! Wishing you warm wishes as we all welcome in 2025! We hope you enjoy this New Year’s Message! BC New Year’s Message warmly, Lorrie [...]

Thanksgiving BC Bubbler!

Happy Thanksgiving to our friends and family! We wish you all wonderful warm gatherings this holiday! Special things happen when people gather together! We are thinking of [...]