First Time Campers program holding raffle
AUGUSTA — The snow is melting, the robins are returning, and it’s not too soon to start thinking about summer camping fun.
In anticipation of this year’s camping season, the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands (BPL), under the Maine Department of Conservation, is again offering its First Time Campers raffle program to Maine residents who want to try their hand at camping.
Now in its fourth year, the First Time Campers program will randomly select 44 lucky Maine families to win a free weekend of camping this summer at one of 11 Maine state park campgrounds. The raffle is open only to Maine families who have never before gone camping. Each selected family will get the free use of camping equipment, receive gifts from sponsors and be supported throughout the weekend by park staff.
This year, the number of selected families has been increased, according to BPL officials. One of those fortunate families also will be the grand-prize recipient of a $1,000 gift certificate from the program’s major sponsor, L.L.Bean.
“In our fourth year, we are really pleased with the response Mainers have given this program,” Will Harris, BPL director, said. “We’re glad we can expand it. This program exemplifies the best of what Maine has to offer its citizens for recreation. We hope they take advantage of it for years to come, because it teaches them how to have fun outdoors.”
Each year since its inception in 2008, the program has grown not only in the number of families who enter the raffle, but also, fortunately, in the number of lucky families who are selected for the free weekend of camping at a state park campground of their choice. Park Manager Andy Haskell of Sebago Lake State Park, who this year is organizing the BPL program, pointed out the number of selected families has increased from 32 in 2008 to 44 for this year.
The park manager said the First Time Camper program clearly is successful, as many of the families later make reservations at the state park campgrounds. They also become familiar with the state parks and return for day use.
Haskell said he has worked each of the past four years with First Time Camper families, and “they very much appreciate the help and guidance we provide.”
“The families are helped, and they come to see that they can do this,” he said, about the camping experience. “They know we are there to help them and to give them confidence to do it themselves.”
One family last year made return reservations within a month after their First Time Campers weekend, Haskell said. He also recalled a single mom and her son who won a weekend of camping.
“Without this program, she never would have tried this, and she discovered that campers help each other,” Haskell said. “They met other campers who also helped them out. The program made it so she said, ‘I will do this again.’”
Raffle applications are available on line and at Maine state parks. They will be accepted through May 31. The recipient families will be chosen in a random drawing held on Friday June 3, with the families notified the week of June 6. There will be four weekends of camping from which the lucky winners can choose, from July 15-16 to Aug. 5-6.
The state park campgrounds include: Bradbury Mountain, Pownal; Rangeley Lake, Rangeley; Aroostook, Presque Isle; Camden Hills, Camden; Sebago Lake, Naples; Mt. Blue, Weld; Cobscook Bay, Edmunds Township; Lamoine, Ellsworth; Peaks-Kenny, Dover-Foxcroft; Lily Bay, Beaver Cove; and Lake St. George, Liberty.
Each family will receive camping equipment they can use for the weekend, plus four sleeping bags, which they can keep. They also receive gift certificates and some food items for the weekend from program sponsors.
For more information about the First Time Campers program or to get an application, go to www.take-it-outside.com.
