Sharon's Everwood Welcomes Pioneers

The first day at was truly the first day.

Sharon’s newest camp opened Monday, after months of renovations and other upgrades at the former Horizons for Youth site on Lakeview Street.

“It’s very refreshing. It’s a clean slate,” Dane Pickles, who directs the camp with his wife Jaime, said during a recent interview.

“We’re starting this culture here. There is no baggage. Everything is new and exciting. There’s a real energy about creating something together.”

About 200 kids ages 4 to 12 are enrolled in the camp,  “basically right on” camp leaders’ target. Pickles said. The nine-week season runs June 27 to Aug. 26, with a three-week minimum.

The camp’s program promotes “five-star points,” the Pickles noted.

Independence, integrity and ethical behavior, inspiration and appreciation, teamwork and collaboration, and friendship.

“We take time to really plan out each of our activities, and make sure that even when they’re at arts and crafts, they’re thinking about how they can be more independent and how they can build friendships,” Jaime Pickles said.

“We actually spend time at the end of every activity reflecting on that.”

Some of those activities are “things that people don’t typically do at home,” such as a ropes course, she said.

Everwood’s Spirit Calendar features different daily themes or special events.

In “Gold Rush,” the staff “basically paint rocks gold and spread them all over camp. Kids can collect the gold rocks and trade them in for camp bucks,” she said.

Dane Pickles noted that Everwood’s elective program allows kids, “if they find something they really like, they can focus on it and do more of it.”

Located on Lake Massapoag, the camp’s physical plant is part of its draw, the Pickles said.

Everwood has incorporated the lake into some of its activities, such as “The Wibit,” an inflatable playground.

“Everything to do with the waterfront is exciting for people,” Dane Pickles said.

“The lake is such a huge feature.”

“To have this overnight camp feeling and overnight camp facility in a day camp world is unique,” Jaime Pickles said.

“I think people love the lake. The idea that kids can have a cabin as a home base, that really draws people. I think the biggest piece is the intentional camp experience that we’re creating here. We’re creating a camp where every moment is a teachable moment.“

All of this is new – to campers and staff alike.

Everwood held a Partnering with Parents forum on June 15.

“There were a lot of questions just about the logistics of things, and what happens when they get off the bus, and how the day flows, what do you do with their lunches,” Jaime Pickles said.

“Natural for any new camp parent, but of course everybody’s a new camp parent here. Everybody has those sort of logistical questions.”