WALBRIDGE – The Loop Park shelter house is used for picnics, family reunions, showers and an occasional
council meeting.
But in the summer during the week, the building is transformed into Camp Loopy. This summer 26 children,
ages 5 to 11, are enrolled in the day camp.
The cement floors are chalked out with a child-size "Loopy Land" – a version of Candy Land (one
spot says "Forget your library books? Move back two spaces.). Library books are scattered across
the table for kids to check out and a reading chart hangs on the wall marking their progress.
"I have an education background so I’m thinking up those things all the time," said Camp Loopy
Director Stephanie Crawford.
The camp day starts around 8:15 a.m. when the kids begin arriving. They have a choice of coloring,
reading or playing on the adjacent playground – with its swings, merry-go-round, baseball diamond and
basketball court.
"I try not to structure them … I try to keep it where they have the freedom to choose,"
Crawford said.
Some structured activities make up the morning, such as a game of kickball, stringing bead necklaces or
playing checkers.
After lunch – Fridays are pizza days – the whole group heads to the village pool for three hours of
swimming everyday.
The kids have also had field trips to the library, speakers from the police and fire stations and one
from CSX on railroad safety.
"But again I don’t want them to feel this is summer school. This is fun," Crawford said.
The camp was in danger of closing this year after about eight summers. It ran in the red last year about
$9,000.
Walbridge Council President Maureen Jacobsen said the village is committed to the camp.
"All of council and the mayor are very much in favor of having this type of program in our
community," she said.
Having Crawford and her teaching background is an added benefit.
"She brings that knowledge to the table and she’s very committed to what she’s doing," Jacobsen
said.
Camp Loopy’s cost is $300 per child – an extremely reasonable rate for structured summer daycare that
Walbridge parents appreciate.
"For the price, they’ve told me they can’t find anything that’s close," Crawford said.
The camp has given back to Crawford, too.
After graduating from Bowling Green State University in 2006 with her bachelor’s degree in education, she
was unsure if she wanted to continue her path in secondary education. She’d originally planned on being
a high school English teacher.
She got married and she and husband Jeff moved to Perrysburg. Crawford worked various jobs as a waitress,
census-taker and at the Walbridge bank. When the Camp Loopy director position opened up two years ago,
she decided to give it a shot.
"This program really helped me personally to show me that I have the capability to handle (little)
kids," said Crawford, who added that she loves doing lesson plans and thinking creatively,
"outside of the box."
When the school year starts in August and Camp Loopy closes, she plans on being a substitute teacher in
possibly the Lake School District or Toledo. She’s a 1997 Lake grad and grew up in Walbridge.
She has great memories of "living at the pool" during summers and reading just about every
young-adult fiction book in the downtown library.
"I probably could have built the addition there with all my fines."
She also credits her two counselors, longtime friends Jennifer LaPlante and Dominique Pasqualone, for
Camp Loopy’s success.