Fun at the Bck4T

STORY BY BETSY ILER PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAMP ASCCA

WWhen the Red Clay Strays left Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, after their June 24 performance and headed to another show five days later in Charleston, South Carolina, they stopped at Lake Martin to headline an exclusive, invitation-only event along the way. Their audience gathered in a renovated horse barn turned concert hall for – in many cases – the only real concert they’ve ever seen, an experience they never thought could be theirs. The band played for summer session guests at Alabama’s Special Camp for Children and Adults, a 236-acre accessible camp built to accommodate guests with disabilities.

This born-in-Alabama band is just one of the five featured musicians that will perform at Camp ASCCA’s Bck4T concert hall this summer, said Elise Quinn, who is social media specialist at the camp where she started volunteering when she was 21.

“Our campers love music, but most of them don’t get to go to concerts, so we try to bring that experience here for them,” Quinn explained.

“The Red Clay Strays love coming here,” Camp ASCCA’s program director, Amber Cotney, said. “They come so much, we refer to them as our house band,” she added with a chuckle.

Interspersed with the house favorite is an impressive series of performers, including Drake White, whose music bridges the gap between Nashville and Muscle Shoals.

“This year, Drake White will be the biggest show we’ve ever done,” Cotney said.

The annual concert series features one show for each weeklong camp session. This year’s performance roster also includes Happy Landing, The 502s and Langhorne Slim. In previous years, Brent Cobb, Band of Heathens, The Vegabonds, Grady Spencer & the Work and Sam Burchfield & the Scoundrels have graced the Bck4T stage.

The building offers the sort of get-comfortableand-have-a-good-time attitude inherent in its name, the back 40 acreage being the most remote area of a farm; and therefore, the best place to make a little noise, said Camp ASCCA Director Matt Rickman.

“We have even found that campers with autism who have trouble with loud noises and lights – their parents will say they won’t like it, and then lo and behold, they’re the ones at the front of the stage,” said Rickman, who is serving his 25th year in the role of camp director.

“We wanted to provide an opportunity for our campers to experience a real concert, in addition to those friends of Camp who love to come and play. Many of our campers will never be able to go to music festivals. This may be their first and only real concert experience. Music plays such a huge role in Camp. We have dances, prom, talent shows, so the concert takes that to the next level,” Rickman explained.

The concert hall walls are lined with couches, chairs and bean bag seating, along with more than a dozen arcade machines. There’s a lava lamp collection on one wall, and the center is open for dancing. A lobby area off the main hall is nicknamed the Pinwheel for the dozens of pinwheel wind toys that decorate its interior. There’s a counter where campers can order slushies, and at one end, a simulator game.

“Campers can play soccer, golf, archery, hunting, all kinds of game simulations,” Quinn said. “And there’s a sensory room, so campers who might feel anxious with the noise and lights and the crowd can go to a quieter space and hang out for a few minutes without having to leave the building.”

“We have agents from L.A. to Nashville reaching out now because the artists want to come here,” said Cotney, who takes the lead in scheduling the bands and handling the contract details.

But the concert series also carries a cost, and these audience members don’t buy tickets.

“The program costs money. We have to pay these artists to come out here. The building itself – it takes money to build and maintain what we do out here,” Rickman said. “Donations are always appreciated, whether somebody hands us $10 or a $50,000 check. Every dollar, every amount, helps us, and we’re just so grateful.”

And while the concert series is a big part of the Camp ASCCA experience, it’s just one of many oncein-a-lifetime opportunities offered to special campers. In addition to music, they enjoy canoeing, fishing, swimming, tubing, wall climbing, three ziplines, a waterslide, a splashpad, disc golf, putt putt, boating, panning for gold, farm animals, tetherballs, swings, sling shots on the pond … and those are just some of the outside activities.

Campers take a break from meals served in the dining hall to sit lakeside at accessible picnic tables in an area called The Patio.

“We added The Patio after COVID hit,” Rickman explained. “It was an old amphitheater, and we thought we might have to be eating meals outside more. It’s a great addition, and there’s not a better breakfast view on the lake.”

The Patio was made possible by The Alabama Elks Association, a national service organization with which Camp ASCCA has a long-running relationship.

“The Elks do so much for us,” Quinn said. “We have a big pontoon boat, so we can take campers for boat rides, and the Elks gifted that to us.”

“We are blessed with great relationships with civic clubs – Rotary, Kiwanis, Elks, Pilots, Civitans and many more. They do so much for us,” Rickman said.

Still, with an annual operating budget of $1.5 million, the needs are many. The camper fee for a oneweek session is $1,200, but very few campers pay the full amount, Quinn said. Like scholarships, camperships reduce the fee by $400 or more for the vast majority of those who attend regular summer sessions. If campers cannot pay the balance, installment payments can be arranged, or other sources are sought to make attendance possible for every camper that wants to attend a session.

Rickman’s goal is to build something new every year to keep the activities fresh and surprise campers with more challenges.

“In most camps, the kids age out, but we have some campers who have come here for 40 years,” Rickman said.

“We put it out on social media, and email campers to let them know when registration is open for the next year, and within about 30 minutes of registration being open, all of the camps are full, and we have a long waiting list,” Quinn said.

The waiting list is even longer this year, as Rickman said it’s been hard to find staff members, so the number of campers per session had to be adjusted.

“COVID reduced our campers by about 40 percent, but that was planned. We knew we would have to do that. In 2022, we brought the camper population up a little bit, but now, we’re dealing with staffing shortages, like everyone else is,” he said. “Hiring male counselors is especially challenging, and that’s across the country, not just here. I talk in social media groups with other camp directors, and that’s a common challenge for everyone. If we could have hired more staffers, we could have accommodated more campers.”

Still, Rickman said, the Camp ASCCA team, led by Administrator John Stephenson, has put together a solid staff this year, and it’s going to be an awesome summer. He brags on Stephenson and the 12 or so fulltime, year-round staff members, as well as the 45 to 50 summer camp session staff.

“Summer staff make the experience what it is for campers,” he said.

This quiet, special place in the upper reaches of Lake Martin just outside of Jacksons Gap has thrived primarily as a camp for children and adults with disabilities since 1976. But to supplement the budget and serve the community that supports it, Camp ASCCA also is available to the community-at-large as a retreat venue, meeting space, corporate team building venue and more.

Some of these user-groups serve individuals with disabilities. Others serve individuals with health issues. In addition, some groups are focused on developing leadership skills – like the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce Leadership Lake Martin classes. Such groups use the facilities during the fall, winter and spring, but in the summer, it’s all about campers and their opportunities for doing fun and exciting things, like dancing in front of the stage at a real concert.

For more information about Camp ASCCA, visit campascca.org. To volunteer or apply to serve on staff, email amber@campascca.org.