Iconic Leif Ericson looks to future with plans to expand

It’s an easy place to miss, hidden in the middle of the city.

But once you’ve discovered it, it’s an impossible place to forget.

Pass through the gates of Leif Ericson day camp on East 26th Street, along the banks of the Big Sioux River, and you feel transported out of Sioux Falls.

The forest of bur oak, maple and ash hides 65 acres of wonderland, including gaming areas, a ropes course, a pasture of horses and open meadows that have welcomed children since 1966.

The Sioux Falls site is the continuation of a history of summer activities for kids started by the YMCA 101 years ago. And it’s one that is again expanding with plans for a new site in the northeast part of city and the return of a multiday overnight experience, similar to the former Camp Tepeetonka on Big Stone Lake.

Through cultural change and natural disasters, Leif Ericson has provided recreation and character building for Sioux Falls residents. It’s a link that spans and connects generations of families.

There have been serious challenges. Not the least of which was a financial crisis for the YMCA in Sioux Falls. A recommitment, reorganization and fundraising put the Y on better footing. It was clear that programs like Leif Ericson had a place in the hearts of Sioux Falls, said Jeff Herbert, a retired teacher who is chairman of the camp committee for the YMCA.

The flood of spring 2019 – when huge blocks of ice driven by the rising Big Sioux, scraped away trees, fencing and small buildings in the city – presented another hurdle for the organization.

“It’s an amazing story,” Herbert said. “If you look at where we were two years ago to where we are now, it’s quite a story.”

At the center of it all is Mike Murphy, the camp director.

He took on the role of CEO of the YMCA during the rebuilding.

Oh, by the way, he’s also a full-time Sioux Falls firefighter.

Murphy’s Leif Ericson journey began as a camper began during another epic flood year, 1993. He went to work as a camp counselor and has never really left.

It’s that kind of long-term commitment that is the hallmark of Leif Ericson, and likely why it seems to endure all challenges.

It would be easy to think the idea of a day camp where kids sing songs and do crafts, learn archery and horsemanship, is something from a bygone era. There are no video games. No phones. No Minecraft. But Leif Ericson and the satellite programs that go with it aren’t going away any time soon.

Just the opposite.

More than 3,200 kids attended Leif Ericson programs this summer. It’s full.

“It’s really amazing to see the community rally around the camp and see our alumni rally around camp and our staff and our campers,” Murphy said.  “And despite all these challenges, we have had some of our strongest years.”

It’s a place where kids get a Viking-style horn after three years of camp and a personalized, full-sized wooden canoe paddle after six years.

It’s a deep connection with the outdoors and a chaotic authenticity rare in the structure of much of our lives. They are lasting links to the origins of Leif Ericson, which started as Camp Tepeetonka at Lake Madison in 1920.

Tepeetonka means “Big Tent.”

In 1930, the camp moved to the 55-acre Manhattan Island on Big Stone Lake. Each week in the summer, a few busloads of Sioux Falls kids would head north for a week of outdoors indoctrination, swimming, fishing, boating and horseback riding.

It was the kind of uber-American experience that inspired and lives on in song, film and literature from “Camp Grenada” to “Moonrise Kingdom.”

The day camp in Sioux Falls opened in 1966.

A broader shift away from residential camps prompted the YMCA to end operations on Big Stone in 1991 and move as much of the experience as possible back to Sioux Falls, where Tepeetonka Outbound continues as a program for older kids.

That led to programs for more kids on either end of the age spectrum, including Little Vikes for 4- and 5-year olds, and the leadership camp for early teenagers.

Ranch Camp started in 2016. It’s a two-week, horse-focused experience, where kids age 9 to 13 are responsible for caring for their animal in a farm setting. There is instruction with group rides each day to teach better riding and a harmonious relationship between horse and rider.

“It’s been so successful that we currently have a waiting list of over 70 campers that wanted to get into that program,” Murphy said.

To meet that demand, Leif Ericson has leased about 50 acres of property from Xcel Energy between Sioux Falls and Brandon. This will double the Ranch Camp capacity and make room for other programs.

“It’s along the river. It really mirrors what we have here at Leif Ericson,” Murphy said. “It’s a great extension that is only a matter of minutes away from us.”

The YMCA also leases about 6 acres on Wall Lake, just west of Sioux Falls, in conjunction with the Girl Scout Council, which provides water access for boating and swimming.

Which all builds momentum for the idea of a new residential camp in the style of the old Tepeetonka but much closer to home.

“There is still a lot of discussion to be had and a lot of brainstorming. That is something, at least for me, is on the horizon that we would love to return to those roots,” Murphy said.

“We’ve found through our conversations with our families and parents and campers is that there’s a lot going on for families these days. To be able to commit to sending a child a few hundred miles away for a week or more is, unfortunately, becoming more and more challenging. So having something that’s close enough to home that it can still be somewhat flexible, and yet they can still get that traditional camping experience, is something that would be very unique and really help serve those families.”

Leif Ericson takes anybody who signs up. A few hundred dollars a week may not seem like much, particularly when compared with the entry cost of many sports, but it can be a hurdle for low-income families.

Murphy said he doesn’t believe they’ve ever turned away a kid because they couldn’t pay. Each year, supporters raise $150,000 to $200,000 for financial aid to help up to 500 kids go to camp.

“We always do whatever it takes to make it happen,” he said.

“It’s life-changing for a lot of these kids. The idea of going fishing, boating, horseback riding, that’s not a reality for a lot of these campers. This is an experience that for them is once in a lifetime. For some, it’s something they get to come back to every summer. For a lot of these kids, there is no family vacation. This is the best two weeks of their year.”

Leif Ericson and Camp Tepeetonka are products of tradition. They were built through the involvement of community leaders in the YMCA and focused on giving kids opportunities.

These traditions – and responsibility – live on.

Nobody knows that better than Phil Rysdon, who was camp board chairman for 20 years.

Rysdon’s mother attended the original Tepeetonka on Lake Madison. His father was president of the YMCA. He was a camper. His children and grandchildren went through the camps, worked as counselors, and pitched in whenever needed.

Rysdon was involved in the formation of Leif Ericson. He talked the Burlington Northern Railroad into giving the camp an old caboose. He found an old single-engine airplane and had it dropped off back in the trees, where it still sits today.

The soil is stained with his blood, sweat and tears.

“One of the constants at camp is change,” he said. “You have to change because of floods. You have to change because every time you add more kids, you’ve got to add more activities, and it’s just a constant movement of things.

“We’re taking care of the most important people in the world, and that’s the kids of the people that live in Sioux Falls. It’s been a really interesting journey for me personally. Because this in my only real outside activities, and so I just pour it in.”