BY KIM RAGLAND

4-H Extension Agent

Boyle County 4-H Camp is back! July 13-16, we will be in London, KY, at the J.M. Feltner Memorial 4-H Camp for four days and three nights of summer fun and learning. Youth ages 9 (or graduated third grade) to 13 (as of July 13, 2021) who live and/or go to school in Danville/Boyle County are eligible to attend.

The cost this year is $200 per camper. A limited number of scholarships are available courtesy of the Boyle County 4-H Council.

The camping program has created an in-depth set of COVID guidelines that must be followed to make camp happen this year. You may see the full plan on-line at: https://4-h.ca.uky.edu/content/2021-covid-mitigation-plan

Part of the plan is that we must restrict attendance at camp to 150 campers total, from all three counties attending (Boyle, Lincoln, and Powell). For reference, in 2019, Boyle County alone took 206 campers.

That means we will not be able to take everyone who wants to go. We want to give everyone equal opportunity to attend so this year, we will select our campers by lottery.

We don’t want to leave a lot of unhappy non-campers back at home on July 13th either. So, we are hosting a 4-H Fun Week in BoCo event at the Extension Office the same week specifically for any young person still on the waiting list at camp time.

To sign your child up for the camp lottery and 4-H Fun Week in BoCo, please come to the Boyle County Extension Office at 99 Corporate Drive off Lebanon Road (behind the Bluegrass Technical School) to pick up a number. You will need the child’s name, date of birth, school and grade, and contact information.

All lottery numbers must be picked up no later than 4:30 p.m. on April 14. The lottery drawing will occur on April 15. We will assign every applicant either a camp spot or a number on the waiting list. We will notify families using the provided contact information by April 19.

Selected campers will have until 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 30, to have all completed paperwork and fees at the Boyle County Extension Office. Any incomplete applicants will be moved to the end of the waiting list.  Any opened spots will be filled from the waiting list.

Over the course of the summer, if any campers decline their spots, those will be offered to youth on the waiting list.

Another part of the COVID mitigation plan is that everyone who attends camp must do a 14-day pre-camp health screening. If for any reason any camper must drop out of camp at that point, we will again turn to the waiting list.

To encourage waiting-list youth to do the screening so they’re ready to attend if a spot comes open, all youth on the waiting list who complete their paperwork and the 14-day pre-camp screening are eligible to attend 4-H Fun Week in BoCo at the Extension Office.

Cooperative Extension and 4-H staff and volunteers will provide five days (July 12-16) of mostly outdoor fun and learning right here at home.  We will have some camp activities like field games, gaga ball, and nature hike, as well as projects like cooking, electricity, and arts and crafts.

Whether here or in London, our goal for this year’s 4-H camp week is to safely get young people with each other and caring volunteers, mostly outside, doing fun summertime kid things. Please come by the Extension Office between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. any weekday, ending April 14, to pick up a lottery number for your summertime kid.

For more information about 4-H Camp or 4-H Fun Week in BoCo, please visit us on Facebook (Boyle County Extension and Boyle County 4-H Online), visit our website (boyle.ca.uky.edu), call us 236-4484 or email marycatherine.rowland@uky.edu.