For more than 15 years, kids in Tellico Village have had an outlet for fun during the summer with Camp Tellico.

In recent years the camp has had enough demand to expand from what was originally one week during the summer to now three weeks for the fourth year in the row.

“We started with one week of camp and then it would just get so full and we would have so many on the waiting list that we had to — either they wouldn’t be able to be on it or we could open up a second camp,” Larrisa Lownsdale, activities coordinator for Tellico Village recreation and camp director, said. “So we opened up a second week, and then that would get full. Then we decided to do three weeks.”


Each of the three weeks is built around a rotating theme. This year that theme was pirates.

“All of the activities and crafts were pirate themed,” Lownsdale said. “We made treasure maps, we made telescopes, pirate treasures out of crystals. Then we did a treasure hunt today and now we have our inflatable obstacle course.

“... We’re trying to rotate five themes so that way each kid can come for each different theme,” she added. “So if they start at pirates then the next theme would be Medieval, Wild West, superheroes and then international.”

Lownsdale, along with recreation assistant manager Jessica Antrim, are directors of the camp. Part-time staff as well as lifeguard Sheyenne Fish help run things.

Ian Morris has helped with the camp for three years, taking charge of the boys in the group.

“I enjoy it,” he said. “I enjoy working with kids and always like to see a smile on their face. This week always brings a smile out of all of them. I think they really enjoy it. They love the crafts, swimming and the food is always good.”

For Morris, who works at the Chota Recreation Center year round, the camp is a fun change from his everyday duties.

“It’s definitely a change up from going to a retirement community to their grandkids and stuff,” he said. “It’s a change of pace, a change of energy and it’s always a welcome change.”

Fish is in her second year as the camp’s lifeguard. For her, the friendships the kids make during the week are the greatest value the camp brings.

“Some girls come back and they’re like, ‘Hey is my friend here?’ They’re super excited to see each other every day,” Fish said. “… I used to come visit my grandparents and there are like, no kids. I didn’t talk to any other kids in the Village. But these kids are meeting new kids and they’re making friendships.”

There were some small changes for this year’s camp. Friday’s treasure hunt, in which the kids dressed up in pirate costumes in search for a treasure, was designed after an escape room game.

“They had to find out the codes to open the treasure box,” Lownsdale said. “… They had to work together as a team to find the number codes, the letter codes and then we had one that was a key code. So they had to find all the different codes.”

But the biggest change was an inflatable obstacle course.

“We have asked sponsors in the Village … to help sponsor our inflatable this year,” Lownsdale said. “So the kids so far have really liked it. It’s new. It’s different than the pool. That’s the main thing that is different this year.”

Members of the Tellico Village Pickleball Club and the Tellico Lakes Tennis Association came out to work with the kids during the week as well.

“We’ve had in the past the line dancers, the clowns,” Lownsdale said. “Depending on what the theme is for the year we try to kind of incorporate what we can.”

The camp, for ages 7-11, wrapped up its first week Friday after running each day last week from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

A second week of camp, which is already fully booked, will be held July 11-15, coinciding with Tellico Village’s junior golf camp.

“That coordinates with our golf camp, which is over at Toqua,” Lownsdale said. “Kids can come to our golf camp and then we’ll bring them over here to come to our camp.”

The final week of camp will be held July 24-29. There are still a small number of openings for the final week. The cost is $155 for the week and kids can be signed up for the camp at the Chota Recreation Center.

“The middle week will fill up within a month,” Lownsdale said. “We start registration April 1 and generally by May 1 that week is full because of the golf camp. That’s our original week. We have a lot of local kids on the third week because that’s right before school starts, and this is kind of a mix between local and kids from in state. We have them coming from Texas, Michigan, Kentucky.”

Camp Tellico provides a fun outlet for kids during the summer, whether they live locally or are in town visiting grandparents, Lownsdale said.

“The kids love it,” she said. “They really do. We have kids who come see their grandparents, sometimes for the whole summer, and they want something to do. This kind of gives them something to do that’s fun. They’ll make friends and we’ll have them call and say, ‘We’re signing up for week one because so-and-so is coming.’ So they want to come back every year with their friends.”