General Camp Information

Download the Summer Splash App for all your camp info on your phone.

After downloading the app, save the browser on your home screen. It will act like an app on your phone.

Arrival & Check-In

Camp starts on Wednesday, August 9th. We will be ready for you to check-in between 6:00pm and 8:00pm. Please eat dinner before you arrive. We are planning an all camp event on Wednesday night at 8:30pm so please arrive by 8pm. If you know you will need to arrive after 8pm, please let us know so we can make sure that someone is there to greet you and show you to your cabin. If you are a first-time Summer Splash family, please join us at 8pm for a new family orientation meeting for about 15 minutes on Wednesday night. We will hold this in the main chapel. Summer Splash will wrap up after 12:30pm lunch on Sunday.

Final Payment

Please mail your check to our office as soon as possible so we can get everything processed for you prior to your arrival. You may pay by credit card, but there is a 3% added fee to cover charges. If you would like to pay by card, please call our office and we will send you an online invoice.

Lodging

There are five tiers from which you marked your preference on your registration form. Your final tier selection is indicated on your balance due letter. All cabins have their own bathrooms. Some cabins have small kitchens and living rooms. Only the Tier 3 lodge rooms and a some of the new cabins have air-conditioning. We have done our best to put you into the housing of your choice. We have a full camp this week and are not able to move you once you arrive. Please call the office if you have questions about housing.

Directions - From the Twin Cities

Mount Carmel Ministries: 800 Mt Carmel Dr NE. Alexandria, MN. Travel Interstate 94 West to Alexandria. Take exit 103 and turn right on MN-29 N. After 3.2 miles, veer right on 3rd Ave E. After 1/2 mile, turn left on Nokomis St. After 0.6 miles, turn left on Co Rd 42 NE/N Nokomis St. After 2.3 miles turn left on to Carlos Darling Dr NE. After 0.5 miles, take first right onto Co Rd 11.

What To Bring

Bedding, pillows and towels will be provided at Mount Carmel.  Besides the obvious things like clothes for your family, here are a few things that you might want to include for an exciting week at Summer Splash.

For Your Family:

• • Swimsuits/Beach towels
  • Warm clothes for cool nights
  • Cool clothes for warm days
  • Clothes that can get messy!
  • Extra shoes that can get wet!
  • Bible & notebook
  • Bikes & helmets
  • Golf clubs - (courses nearby)
  • Tennis racquets (courts nearby)
  • Pickle ball racquets
  • Bug spray/Sunscreen
  • Fishing gear
  • Life jackets (we have some)
  • Night light
  • Collapsible lawn chairs - for outdoor small groups
  • Board games
  • Fan 
  • Swim shoes - (Zebra Mussels)

For Your Kids:

• • Bible for kids 5 & older
  • Port-a-crib
  • Beach toys

Things to Share:

• • Recreation equipment
  • Water skis, wake-board, etc.
  • Treats for Adult Club

Club!

The main focus of our adult time is Club, which features outstanding music, humorous skits, relevant presentations, and small group discussions. All kids will join us for the first 35-45 minutes of the evening club.  The 7th-10th grade group will stay with the adults on Friday night.

Kids Programs

During the adult Club, all kids will have age-appropriate sessions held around camp led by our senior high and college-age KCs (Kid’s Counselors). All kids from infants to 10th grade will experience the love of Jesus Christ with games, activities, crafts, stories, songs and much more. We have carefully assigned classes based on age, number of kids in each program and staff. Please bring your child only to their assigned program age group.

KCs (Kid’s Counselors)

We are very blessed to  have a wonderful group of 31 high school and college age students who will lead our kid’s programs this year. This year the KCs are being led by Mark Harmon and Rachel Larson. You will meet your child’s KC when you drop them off on the first morning program.

Volunteers at Summer Splash

Family Fest’s is a ministry to families, by families. You can help make Summer Splash so much fun for all by volunteering to assist us throughout the week. Check out the needs and sign-up for what you would like to do. There are a variety of different opportunities! You should have received an email with a Sign-up Genius link showing all the different possibilities. These include helping at the craft-barn, driving the boats, running the inflatables, monitoring the slip-n-slide, taking photos, making sno-cones, being in a skit. (Yes, it is skit night this year. We need a bunch of you to jump in and be a part of our hilarious skit night - you will love it!). If you can’t find the email with the link, go to the familyfestministries.org website and click on Camp Info where you will find all of this information and the link to the Sign-up Genius.

We are delighted to have Sheryl Moran as our speaker for the week.  Sheryl has been connected to Family Fest Ministries from the beginning. She and her husband, Dan, (famous for his shoo-bop skills), were part of the original group of families who created and participated in the first Winter Weekend in 1997. 

Upon becoming an empty-nester, Sheryl started getting more involved in evangelism ministries at her church, Our Lady of Grace in Edina, and eventually went on to help the Archdiocese, creating programs and materials to help people throughout the metro come to know and love Jesus. She has helped lead a number of retreats around the Twin Cities.

Currently, Sheryl is being trained as a spiritual director. She and Dan are part of a group of people who founded Bethany Center for Prayer and Renewal and are developing a property in Scandia where she looks forward to serving as a director, leading people on silent directed retreats.

Sheryl loves to paint and sculpt sacred art and her work can be seen in churches and homes around the country.  But she really loves being a wife, mom, grandma, and friend!

Family Free Time

Each day at Summer Splash, you will have free time to do something special with your family. You can canoe, bike, (trails nearby), play Frisbee golf, volleyball, Gaga Ball, tennis (courts nearby), shoot hoops, swim, water ski, golf (many courses under 10 minutes from camp), and so much more. In 2021 Mount Carmel installed 4 new Pickleball courts. Bring your racquets or use ours. There are also many fun activities such as mini-golf and go-carting nearby. Costs associated with some activities are not included in the camp fee.

Family Activities

Each afternoon following lunch, the entire camp will gather for about an hour for some all camp fun and activities. For the sake of the kids, it is important that every adult participate in these activities. Your leadership here will make it much more enjoyable for kids and adults alike.

Policies and Guidelines

While alcohol is not prohibited at Summer Splash, we would ask a couple of things. Please keep alcohol out of public areas. Also, we ask that participants keep small in-room parties to a minimum as we are trying to build a sense of community at camp and have found that the small in-room parties have pulled people away from the large group activities. This has been noted on evaluations, especially from new families. Thanks for your cooperation on this. Family Fest prohibits weapons of any kind, fireworks, or any illegal substances at Summer Splash.

Prayer Cave

This is an optional event following our morning session. It is 10-15 minutes of prayer on the deck on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Program Leaders

All the kids’ programs are being led by an amazing group of talented individuals. The infant through third grade program contact is Erika Hall. The 4-6 grade program contact is Ruth Lenker. The 7-10 grade program contact is Dianne DeKoning. If you have questions throughout the week, please check with any of these people.

Waterfront

The beach and waterfront area at Mount Carmel does not have lifeguards. Parents are responsible for watching their children at the beach. We will have two boats available to pull tubers and skiers. You can check in with the waterfront volunteer to sign-up. Life jackets must be worn in the boat and are available at the dock.

Camp Merchandise

Check out the shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs, and other wonderful items at our merchandise table in the chapel. Mount Carmel’s camp store will also be open in the mornings during our adult sessions.

Treats!

Along with room snacks, we would love it if you could bring a pan of nut-free bars or cookies to share during adult Club time. These will be out during breaks for adults. Please make sure that these are nut-free to help us with kids that have severe nut allergies. 

Allergies and Special Diets

If anyone in your family has an allergy or  any special dietary needs, please go the familyfestministries.org site and fill out the camp diet/allergy form one week before camp.  Mount Carmel will do its best to come up with options that work for you. You also may want to bring some food from home to supplement the available options. Special diets need to be pre-ordered and we will only have enough for those who have made arrangements. Please don’t take a special plate (gluten-free) unless you have filled out the form. Thanks!

Please Pray

As you prepare for a great week for your family, please pray for the families and the KCs (Kid’s Counselors) who will be joining us at Summer Splash.