The Current - Why are so many people going to adult summer camp?

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

More and more adults are heading back to summer camp, hoping to disconnect from their phones and responsibilities and recreate childhood summer magic. These camps come in all shapes and sizes, from a retreat in a chateau in the south of France to a book club camp in Maine. Shelby Sanford, the co-founder of Camp Rewind in the East Kootenays, B.C, talks about why she thinks people are increasingly searching for this kind of childhood fun.

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Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. Cabins in the forest, games have capture the flag, afternoons by the lake, and evenings roasting marshmallows. Summer camp isn't just for kids. Hello for my room at camp this weekend. I am at an all-woman's sleepaway camp in the Poconos. This is the club summer camp, and it is what dreams are made of. I stayed at a woman-only summer camp at a chateau in the French countryside.

And yes, it was as dreamy and magical as it sounds. Adult summer camps are taking off. On Yelp, searches for them are up almost 350% this year. The camps come in all shapes and sizes from women-only retreats in a chateau in the French countryside where you can practice making jam to a book club camp in Maine with dedicated crafting time. There's also camp camp, a long-running LGBTQ-plus adult camp in the U.S. Well, it reminds me of like a camp when I was a kid in the sense that there was like so many different activities, water sports, there was a talent show that we did that you could like do any kind of talent you wanted to do. There was like a bookmaking class, dance class. And at the start of the week, you went to one session at the night time and you could pick what classes you wanted to do. So you kind of designed your own schedule for that week.

Matt Cullen enjoyed the summer camp experience as an adult because he never had it as a kid. I don't know, as a kid walking into a camp and stuff, I always felt nervous to do that because I would get made fun of and meeting new people that didn't know who I was. But I always wanted that kind of feeling of going to a camp and making these friends and feeling so loved and having those fleeting moments of friendship. And when I went to camp camp and was surrounded by people in my community, I just felt so immediately embraced. It did heal that side of me that was scared to go to camp. There are plenty of these getaways in Canada, too. Camp Rewind in the East Cootanies in BC is all about rediscovering

the childhood magic of summer. Shelby Sanford is the co-founder of the camp and is in Nelson. Shelby, good morning. Good morning. Why did you want to create an adult summer camp? I wanted to relive the summer camp

that I enjoyed when I was a kid. And you didn't want to leave it behind. You thought, you know, let's bring this back to adult life. Exactly. I think that we're all kind of yearning for the throwback and the simple life that we had when we were younger. And I think this is a great opportunity to relive it for a few days. And what is it about the summer camp experience, bringing people together in that way that you think is catching on right now? I think that it's enticing to simplify your life for a few days and have the opportunity to make friends that you would have never made,

especially when your opportunities are really, you know, at work or maybe, you know, when you're dropping your kids off for school. So I think that this is just such a pure, fun way to make new friends and bring yourself out of the stresses of regular life for a few days. Surely, there are some differences, I would assume, between the adult camp experience and a kid, you know, who's eight going to camp maybe for the first time. Like what sorts of activities are you doing? So we try to do a lot of the same activities that you would have when you were a kid. We have, of course, a friendship bracelet making station and games like Capture the Flag. But we also bring in morning yoga and, you know, the food is a little bit better than when you were a kid too. The expectations are a little higher, are they?

They're a little bit higher, but we found this is our second year. And in our first year, you know, we were pleasantly surprised at how flexible everyone was and how they truly just wanted that camp experience. And I'd say the majority of this is really about connecting with other people, less so the activities, but the activities were a ton of fun. And so who are the folks that are coming, who are coming? Are they people who are looking for friends? Are they people who just need a break from their regular life and kind of the demographics of the folks that are coming to your kids? Definitely both of those things. We had campers from age 19 to in their 60s, and it was such a fun to see everyone kind of revert to that younger self. And people that just, again, want to let go for a weekend. We had people that just really came out of their shell.

I think something that adults have going for them is that they have a lot of kind of spatial awareness in the sense that we can tell when someone might be feeling left out and make sure to include them. Make sure to really ask about boundaries. Hey, I see you're sitting alone. Would you mind if I sat with you? And there just was never a time where someone wasn't included. And do you find that people walk away from your camp with new friends? Do they maintain those friendships long after they've left the campsite? A thousand percent.

We have all maintained really close relationships with the campers from last year. Two of them went to Disneyland together this year. We've got a book club that has started that, again, camper led. So we had nothing to do with it. and a book is being mailed to each of the campers where they highlight and write annotations, you know, the funnier favorite things from the book. So many connections. A lot of the people were from the same town that we're from,

and we see them at various events that we host because camp isn't the only thing that we host here in the Kootenys. We've also got line dance events and lots of other fun things. So we see these people all the time and love to see their connections. Is it true that you have a final, the final day, you have a lip sync battle? Yes. So Ruth and I actually, Ruth, the other co-founder, she and I started our kind of foray into entertainment and getting ourselves out there by winning our local lip sync battle. And so we just thought it was so fitting to have a lip sync battle for all of our campers as well. And they showed out. It was incredible.

Do you find that the campers, when they arrive, like they're a little timid to sort of let go of being an adult and really take on that childhood persona? Does it take a couple of hours or a day or two before they're really fully invested in the experience? It can take a small amount of time, actually. One of our campers was adamant that she was not participating in the lip sync battle. That's where she drew the line. And then she was in three different lip sync numbers. So it doesn't take long. Do you have any sense of, you know,

because people are maybe going for a variety of different reasons, but do you, have you looked into whether or not this might be, factor into someone's sort of mental health plan? Like, is it good for them emotionally and not only, you know, physically they're outside, all of that good stuff too, but I wonder just emotionally if it's helpful. I think so. And I think that it's nice to have kind of this getaway to look forward to.

We have several people returning from last year. and we've even got a mum that came with her two daughters. And, you know, they've decided that they're going to make this a yearly tradition. And so this, the idea that we will see these people year after year and kind of watch these young women grow and learn about their lives. I mean, of course, we all follow each other on social media now. So seeing, you know, these people start university or get new jobs. Like, it's so heartwarming. and lovely to see because these are people we knew for just a couple of days,

but it does feel like we've made these lifelong connections. Yeah. Just before you go, you know, if someone's listening right now is still a bit skeptical, just remind our listeners what it is about that childhood fun at a camp that you're able to recreate when you bring a bunch of adults together and you're sitting at a picnic table and your lip-syncing together. What is that childhood lightness that we're missing in our lives, do you think? I think that currently we're just so connected kind of digitally to each other.

There's no real opportunity to disconnect and really just be with one another without additional distractions. And then you throw in something like friendship bracelets in the mix or tie-dye. And it's just this opportunity to kind of use your hands, to be creative and just talk to one another. There are no, you know, kids kind of pulling at your shirt or, you know, partners asking you to do XYZ, or maybe, you know, your work email is dinging in the background. Like, remove all of that and just focus on human connection and making a really pretty bracelet. And that's as simple as it is. Okay, Shelby Sanford, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much for this. Have fun this summer.

No problem. Thank you. That is Shelby Sanford, and she was talking about the camp she runs called Rewind. This has been the current podcast. You can hear our show Monday to Friday on CBC Radio 1 at 8.30 a.m. at all time zones. You can also listen online at cbc.ca.ca.com or on the CBC Listen app or wherever you get your podcasts. My name is Matt Galloway. Thanks for listening. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca.ca.com.

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