2017 Golden Teddy Awards — Camps + Classes

Winner: Camp Gallagher 

Your votes piled up for Camp Gallagher and its confidence-building overnight camps for middle school and high school kids. Campers engage in all the best summer-camp activities, including boating, crafts, campfires and playing on the beach. Kids also practice leadership by planning their own group excursions. In a testimonial on the camp’s website, one camper described her time at camp this way: “Summer stripped down to its purest form — water, trees, sunshine, friendships, freedom, adventure.” Campers also carry on long-established insider traditions, such as the Lemming Run. Camp Gallagher is located near the town of Lakebay on south Puget Sound.

Finalists

With its many appearances across camps and classes categories over the years, we’re getting the picture that you think Wilderness Awareness School (WAS) absolutely rocks. You love that your kids develop a true connection to nature, along with practical skills, such as tracking and recognizing edible plants. One voter loves how her kids come home from this camp “dirty, tired and so happy at the end of each day.”

The YMCA’s Camp Orkila welcomes campers to its scenic spot on Orcas Island. Parents appreciate not only the “gorgeous location” and “amazing staff,” but also how well run this camp is, with one proclaiming that “the Y is completely dialed in on all facets of coordination, education and fun.” Kids love Orkila’s traditional camps as well as specialty weeks, with themes ranging from horseback riding to skateboarding.

Your votes showed serious love for the Girl Scouts of Western Washington's Camp River Ranch and how its programs impart a major girl power message to your tweens and teens. At a huge facility along the Tolt River near Carnation, girls sleep in wagons, A-frames and cabins, and partake in horseback riding, swimming in the lake and other fun, community-building programs. One voter praised the “great, well-established program and good staff.”

Girl Scouts of Western Washington's Camp Robbinswold earned your votes for its beautiful waterfront facility and “magical” overnight camps for girls. You love Robbinswold’s “caring counselors” who help girls explore the natural world, go swimming and make great friends.