Covenant Pines Bible Camp Honors Founders

More than 200 people attended the event - one of a number of anniversary events scheduled this year – held at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis on May 1. In addition to members of the camp's founding board and some of their children (see photo), every camp manager going back to 1958 was honored.

In early December 1953, a group of pastors from the Twin Cities met to discuss purchasing land for a Bible camp. A committee including both pastors and lay people was formed to search for a site. After more than a year of visiting different locations, they discovered Frontier Camp near McGregor, MN. The committee met on October 1, 1954, and voted 25-4 to purchase the site for 22,000.

"That was really a steal," says Bruce Peterson, the camp's current executive director. The chapel built three years later cost $27,000.

The founders and others invested sweat equity as well as money into the camp. During the first summer, Peterson noted, a group of men spent seventeen Saturdays working on the camp. One person left staff to manage his business for the summer, so that he could work at the camp.

The first summer of operation was 1955. There were three weeks of camps: junior high boys, junior high girls and a coed senior high camp. The camp welcomed 285 attendees that year and had an operating expense of $6,483.07.

Covenant Pines has grown to 11 weeks of camp and 1,800 people per summer, with an operating budget of $900,000. Throughout the year, the camp serves 7,500 people.

Among those in the founder's group who attended the recent celebration were Linda Franzen (daughter of Vern Franzen), Maxine Schermer, Tim Schermer, (wife and son of the late George Schermer), Carl Elving, Bill Goolsbee, Dave Swanson, Paul Norquist, Jim Gronvall, Earl Johnson, Jim Fretheim (son of the late Art Fretheim), and Arlene Gronvall (wife of the late Bob Gronvall). Other recognized during the dinner included Virginia Vining (wife of the late Curt Vining) Ray Dahlberg, Luverne Sands, Carl Janson, and Orville Bjorklund.

Peterson said the recent dinner was special. "For me it was really exciting to see people who were connected with camping fifty years ago," he says. "These people really had some foresight in finding the site and investing their sweat and blood into the camp."

Also at the dinner, an archives and history committee put together a display of memorabilia and other pertinent history of the camp.

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