At Boulder Pointe Equestrian and Event Center in Nowthen, the prep work is being done in anticipation of summer campers.

"A lot of it is making sure the horses are ready, making sure they’re up to par, healthy, well trained, getting all of our craft supplies ready, getting all of our fun games that we do on horseback, getting all that ready," said owner Andrea Gustafson.

Boulder Pointe offers day camps as well as overnights. But there were no campers last summer due to the health pandemic, and Gustafson says even the horses missed out.

"We thought maybe they would enjoy the break but they actually really need that, that interaction, that exercise, they miss all the kids," she said.

While many COVID-19 restrctions are being lifted, camps are keeping some precautions in place because most of the young kids who will be attending won't be able to get a vaccine even if they wanted one.

"We made some outdoor cross ties and we’re trying to be outside as much as we can, we’re still social distancing when we can," Gustafson said.

"Every night when the kids go to bed, or first thing in the morning, we'll do more of a deep cleaning of the camp," said Tom Sanford, Camp Director fo Legionville School Safety Patrol Camp in Brainerd.

Legionville will focus a lot on health and hygiene.

"We always kept camp clean, at least we felt so, but more so than ever we'll clean in between class, just like I did as a teacher in Brainerd," Sanford said.

Legionville used last summer's pause to do maintenance work around the camp. 

"We helped make some much-needed improvements to the camp, and I think we’re better for it," Sanford said.

Legionville is a nonprofit, and its been a tough few years because of the pandemic last year and no camp. Also because of a huge bog that floated into the camp beach in 2018 that canceled the summer camp season.

This year, they'll be at half capacity.

"Registration is down right now," Sanford said. "We kind of knew there would be a little setback with this."

Despite that, he says they're excited to be back.

"A camp without kids,  I mean, we need those campers back," Sanford said.

There is still camp availability at both Boulder Pointe and Legionville this summer.

To see the original report and watch related reporting, follow this link to the KSTP-TV website. https://kstp.com/news/after-covid-19-pause-summer-camps-back-in-action-for-minnesota-youth/6129244/