By Jo Mixon
Kids Camp at the Angel Fire Community Center
It’s that time of the year again when Greg, my grandson from Texas, comes to visit me for a month. We lovingly refer to this time as Camp Memaw! This summer while he’s visiting he has also chosen to attend Kids Camp. The first day he was here, upon referral from my friend Nancy Burch, who owns and operates Roadrunner Tours, we went to the Community Center to talk with Shay Tibljas about the camp. Shay, who is the Community Center Coordinator, started Kids Camp in 2010. We looked at the schedule and Greg was immediately ready to sign up!
He has attended three days this week. Under the supervision of Karen Kelly and her assistant Jake Colenda, Greg and the kids at Kids Camp have gone horseback riding with Nancy, swimming at the country club, taken an art class with Carol Rupp at White Dog Studio, been mountain biking up the greenbelt trails and at the Resort Bike Park. They also played disk golf, eurobungied, hit the climbing wall, and hiked down Heading Home. All of this in three days… kid heaven! And if you look at their calendar at www.angelfirenm.gov, you will see this is not all Kids Camp has to offer.
One of the great things about how Shay has Kids Camp set up is the parent/child option to choose the days they want to attend based around the activities planned for each day. Greg has picked out all of the days he wants to attend for his entire visit in Angel Fire. Kids Camp is open June 4 through August 9, 2012. They meet Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. There is room for up to 23 kids, ages 5 to 12. McKenna Hedgepeth and Brooke Perry are called in to help on days when the camp is full. Fees for attending are $23 per day for locals, with multiple-child discounts or a flat weekly rate. The fee includes lunch and snacks. Shay told me about the great partnerships the camp has with other venues in the village that make it possible to keep the per-camper costs down. She also said she refers those with kids ages 2 to 5 to Mountain Day Care Camp at the Resort.
Then I talked to Shay about other activities at the Community Center, which is open year round. Each month a calendar is posted on both their website and ours, with schedules for exercise classes, bridge groups, bible studies, pickle ball, open gym days and much more. She would like to get a basketball team together. If you’re interested call her at 575-377-1544. Although Shay must charge fees for usage of the Community Center, the facility is not a profit-making venue. The goal is to break even so that it can be adequately maintained and remain available for use. Call to book weddings, reunions, dances, etc.
Eventually I asked how Shay came to Angel Fire. While they were residents of Colorado, she and her high school sweetheart (now husband) Rob, decided they wanted to live and raise their children in a small mountain community. Rob’s grandmother was one of the original settlers in Eagle Nest, so he had spent many childhood summers in the area. They chose Angel Fire 10 years ago, never wanting to go anywhere else.
My advice; enroll your kids or grandkids in Kids Camp in Angel Fire this summer. They’ll make memories for a lifetime and have way too much fun!
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