First time for everything

Well, if you’ve never gone camping before, now’s the time to try. It won’t ever get any easier -- or cheaper -- to do that. Trust me.

The Maine Bureau of Parks and Land has joined with outdoors giant L.L. Bean to host a “First-Time Campers” contest. The winning families -- yes, that’s plural, there will be 32 winners! -- will receive a free weekend at a Maine state park campground, gear, water, coffee and a grocery store gift card.

Daryl Madore of Monmouth was one of last year’s winners. He took his family to Lily Bay.

“It's unlikely that we would ever have done this on our own,” Madore said. “I'm not sure what the camping gear would have cost us... It's highly unlikely that I would have invested the funds to buy the equipment since I had no way of knowing whether we'd even like camping.”

“Our families get all the support they need to have a great time – no struggling on their own with no idea what to do,” said BPL’s Gary Best. “All our sponsors have been just wonderful to ensure our families have such a good time that they want to keep on camping after their contest weekend is over.” 

Winning families will be chose on June 8, and they must take their trip during the month of July. The contest is open only to Maine residents who have never before been camping.

“We want to encourage as many people as possible to participate,” Best said. “This contest is exclusively for Maine families, because our parks belong to all of us. They’re very special places.”

For more information or to enter, contact BPL’s Gary Best at gary.best@maine.gov  or visit take-it-outside.com/index.html.