Does Anyone Remember Camp Kiwanis On Bachman Lake (Dallas, Lewisville: apartment, neighborhood)

[Mommy/Artist/Lawyer]

Does anyone remember the wonderful YMCA day camp on Bachman lake called Camp Kiwanis? I attended in the 60's and 70's and the camp had already been around a long time by the time I got there. My best summer memories of Dallas were at that camp. Making lanyard keychains and playing four square under the big white building where the camp store was, hiking around Bachman, naps in the big hall with the grandaddy longleg spiders. If anyone else attended I would love to hear your memories or see any photos you may have. The Camp is gone now and I can't find anything about it on the internet. I have always wondered about the history of the Camp and what eventually happened to it.

[momof2dfw]

Grew up going to Bachman Lake for family get togethers, Easter Egg Hunts, etc. I vaguely remember being there for something else like a camp of sorts...... always thought maybe it was some kind of VBS as it seemed to be related w/ church.

[Mommy/Artist/Lawyer]

I am not sure when the camp ceased to exist as a secular day camp. When I was there in the 70's it was a regular day camp. Our parents dropped us off in the morning and we were in groups according to our age and gender with teenage counselors. We jumped on trampolines and did arts and crafts and archery, went hiking, canoeing, swimming and went on field trips to local places like the Mrs. Baird's bread factory. Our parents picked us up after work. There were buildings on the camp grounds that dated back to the twenties or thirties I think. I guess it is possible it was also used for vacation bible school since it was the YMCA. When do you remember being there?

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Mommy/Artist/Lawyer

I am not sure when the camp ceased to exist as a secular day camp. When I was there in the 70's it was a regular day camp. Our parents dropped us off in the morning and we were in groups according to our age and gender with teenage counselors. We jumped on trampolines and did arts and crafts and archery, went hiking, canoeing, swimming and went on field trips to local places like the Mrs. Baird's bread factory. Our parents picked us up after work. There were buildings on the camp grounds that dated back to the twenties or thirties I think. I guess it is possible it was also used for vacation bible school since it was the YMCA. When do you remember being there?

I would have been there the last part of the 60's and early 70's.

[Mommy/Artist/Lawyer]

Do you remember a big white two story building on columns with a wide stair case in front leading to the second story and an open area beneath where the camp store was? It was in the middle of the camp and you could see the lake from the front steps. Campers were not allowed upstairs but we hung out and played 4 square underneath the second story and bought Lance candy, Shasta and lanyard from the store.

[Kent Skinner]

I worked at Camp Kiwanis for 5 years in the 70's. 72-77 I think. I would love to hear from anyone who attended or worked there. I have OLD slides of the camp when the old buildings were there and after they were torn down along w/ a few pics of kids and staff.

[Mommy/Artist/Lawyer]

Wow that is so exciting! My summers at Camp Kiwanis are some of my happiest memories and your last name actually kind of rings a bell. Please share what you remember. I would love to see your slides. Do you think there any way for you to scan and upload them?

[Korel]

I do remember! It was in the late 50s and early 60s. My Mom was a single Mom and financially challenged and I remember a counselor of sorts would come and pick us 3 brothers up on a Friday afternoon. We would spend 2 nights there cooking out, watch a movie outdoors, fishing, paddle boating, canoeing, swimming, playing ball and yep, all those arts and crafts. I was only 7 to 10 years old back then but remember the fun we had. I took my wife over there last month to where there is now a public park. Some guy wanted me to buy some of his counterfeit DVDs. It AIN'T! the same!

[Mommy/Artist/Lawyer]

Originally Posted by Korel

I do remember! It was in the late 50s and early 60s. My Mom was a single Mom and financially challenged and I remember a counselor of sorts would come and pick us 3 brothers up on a Friday afternoon. We would spend 2 nights there cooking out, watch a movie outdoors, fishing, paddle boating, canoeing, swimming, playing ball and yep, all those arts and crafts. I was only 7 to 10 years old back then but remember the fun we had. I took my wife over there last month to where there is now a public park. Some guy wanted me to buy some of his counterfeit DVDs. It AIN'T! the same!

My mother was a single divorced mom as well. I remember my first summer they sent someone by our apartment in a volkswagen bus to pick us up for camp. I attended from 1971 when I was about 6 until 1976. It is so sad they didn't maintain that camp. It was a Dallas jewel. I wish they had invented digital cameras back then. I would give anything for pictures of all those incredible summers. I remember there was this counselor with long blonde hair who was really great at telling stories. He spent about two weeks giving a bunch of campers a blow by blow account of the book "Lord of the Flies."

[theloneranger]

I went to Camp Kiwanis in the mid-to-late 1990's. At that point it was the "bad" camp you didn't really want to go to because it was kinda old and in a bad neighborhood and the lake was so gross. I only went when the "good" camps that Town North YMCA had, Camp Broken Arrow and Camp T'sungani on Lake Lewisville, were full.

I think they closed it around 1998 or so because of how old and decrepit it was getting as well as the fact that the neighborhood was rapidly going downhill. Town North now just runs Camps Broken Arrow and T'sungani.