LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
The Way I See It |
| by Steve Elkins, Editor |
| This is the Memorial Day issue of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth, and with its publication we celebrate, once again, the official kick-off of another summer season. If this is the first time you've been back to the Rehoboth area this yearor even if you never went away, for that matteryou may have noticed quite a few changes to both the city and the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center CAMPus on Baltimore Avenue. Around town, the third year of the Downtown Streetscape project is coming to a close and the renovation has now pushed all the way down Rehoboth Avenue. After the 2005 summer season ends, the fourth and final phase of the project will complete the outer sidewalks in the first two blocks of Rehoboth Avenue and the bandstand. Also, Rehoboth Beach Main Street has again enlisted the services of local artists and businesses to create a whole new batch of painted dolphins that can be seen all over town.
Here at CAMP Rehoboth, this year is already one of the most exciting and challenging ones in our 15 year history. In January of this year we purchased the adjacent property at 37 Baltimore Avenue and for the past weeks have been busy renovating the existing space to house the offices, and meeting rooms of the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. In the coming months we will be unveiling the master plan for the whole complex, which will include designs for the construction of a new building in the rear of 37 Baltimore (the old Our Place Restaurant) and the renovation of the enlarged courtyard that will tie the whole CAMPus together. If all goes as planned, by the time these words are being read, we will be working quickly to move into our new home before the next Letters deadline rolls aroundand before the HEART of the Community Art Preview Party...and the Black and White Beach Ball...and the Blue Moon/Love Bachelor Auction...and Splash...and the big Love Weekend...and Follies...and Sundance...and all the rest of the summer! Speaking of the Black and White Beach Balla reminder to all that tickets to the event are limited and sell out early, and as I said in the last issue, Founders' Circle members must RSVP in order to use the tickets that come with some of the membership levels. Founders' Circle members, of course, are the ones making all the changes here at CAMP Rehoboth possible, and with the final year of the Founders' Circle Capital Campaign beginning at this season's Black and White Ball, now is the perfect time to join. For information about the Founders' Circle or the Black and White Ball contact CAMP Rehoboth Development Director Beth Fitton. For many years now, CAMP Rehoboth has produced the beach book, a directory of summer residents in the Rehoboth areaand we are doing so again. Unfortunately, when we made some changes to our email server in the spring of this year, we may have inadvertently lost some of the Beach Book forms that were completed online. If you filled out the form online before May 15, we ask that you either resend the form or call the CAMP office for confirmation. Anyone wishing to place an ad in the Beach Book (which is out all summer long, by the way) should contact CAMP Rehoboth ad rep Tricia Massella. Whew! Life is a whirlwind for us at the moment...but as the summer season begins, I am reminded of the reason we started coming to this little town in the first placemore years ago than I can remember. That first year, we thought it was for the beach, of course, but quickly discovered that the most important part was the friendships that we were making. Years later, that concept was incorporated into the vision of the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center: "to be the heart of the community." So welcome allold friends and newto another year of "summer CAMP." May it be a joyous time for us all. |
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LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 15, No. 5 May 20, 2005 |