Camp It Up! held its first summer camp in August, 1990 at Berkeley Tuolomne Camp and approximately 130 adults and children attended. It was a spectacular week; campers, feeling like pioneers, shared an excitement that was palpable throughout the camp session.

In the twenty-three years since our inception, Camp It Up! has served more than 2,300 campers. Our campers are a wonderful mix: lesbian and gay, single-parent, adoptive, multi-racial and heterosexual families, as well as adults without children. We are proud of our eclectic community and are especially proud to have been the first family camp in the country to do particular outreach to the LGBT community.

We moved to Feather River Camp in Quincy, California in 2000 and though Tuolomne had been our “home,” we were glad to move to a larger camp site so that we could accommodate even more camper families.

Over the years, we have seen a generation of children grow from babies to college students to graduates building their careers. Our community has celebrated many births, adoptions, commitment ceremonies, career changes, retirements and other life rituals. Sharing the joys and losses in our lives are the ties that bind us together as we grow. Since our inception, Camp It Up! has provided individuals and families with new and cherished friends, with a home and community, and with a safe space in which to feel validated and esteemed. Countless campers and staff have remarked that Camp has changed their lives in innumerable and inestimable ways.

Our administrative staff has expanded to include a Director, Program and Staff Supervisors, Counselor-in-Training Coordinators, Administrative Director, Web Master, Marketing Manager and administrative assistants.

In addition, our incredible program staff, which now number approximately 50 each summer session, has been an integral part of the camper community. We estimate that some 200 staff members have shared their talents with us over the years. Our very popular Counselor-in-Training (CIT) program is run for approximately 20 teenagers each summer. Many of our staff have gone on to administrative positions at Camp It Up! Some have built careers working with children, inspired by their Camp It Up! experience. As many of “our kids” go off to college (many returning each year to work as staff), they write in their college essays that Camp It Up! is the one thing that has most shaped their view of family and community.

Some camp favorite activities over the years include dances (music provided by our very own band!), tie-dye, talent shows, all-camp musical productions, overnights, an annual spa and salon, family games, Disco Bingo, hayrides, gold panning, limbo, crawdad creek walks, print making, instrument making and theme day activities. We’re always coming up with new favorites too!