Camp Owahta’s Big Night Out is Coming Up October 17th
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X101’s Mike Eves recently spoke with Rachel Bortin, the Outdoor Recreation and Camp Director at 4-H Camp Owahta, to highlight the camp’s upcoming second annual Big Night Out fundraiser. Set for October 17 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Cortland Country Music Park, the event will raise essential funds to support facility upkeep, program expansion, and camper scholarships.
Click here for audio transcript. Audio transcription is edited for content.
Mike Eves: It’s X101, Always Classic. I am Mike Eves here in the X101 studio. Of course, Camp Owahta, one of the great local camps for young people here in our community. And with us, joining us, is Rachel Bortin. She’s the Outdoor Recreation and Camp Director. Rachel, how are you, and how was camp this summer?
Rachel Bortin: Hi, I’m doing well. Happy first day of fall.
Mike Eves: Yes, that’s right.
Rachel Bortin: Camp was great. We had a lot of changes, but we also had a lot of new campers coming in the door, which was great.
Mike Eves: No, that’s awesome to hear that. It’s kind of like a hidden treasure in our area. Of course, we all know Camp Owahta here, being around here for a long time, but you know, it really is awesome. But when are your big fundraiser events coming up? And Rachel, that’s why I invited you here. Can you tell us a little bit about your fundraiser, and how do you guys do programming for the kids? Or really, how does the camp kind of work? Obviously, you still need fundraisers and donors and things, too. But yeah, let’s talk about your Big Night Out coming up in October.
Rachel Bortin: Yeah, so this is our second ever Big Night Out on October 17th. All funds go directly to 4-H Camp Owahta, and so that keeps allowing us to maintain our facilities, expand our programming, have more staff, and hopefully eventually bring some scholarship money in for campers.
Mike Eves: Oh, wow. That’s pretty awesome to hear. So we want it to be accessible for everyone, right, Rachel? That’s kind of the big thing, too. Obviously, sometimes that can be kind of a hurdle, though, as well. But yeah, tell me a little bit about your Big Night Out. It’s going to be a lot of fun over at the Cortland Country Music Park, right?
Rachel Bortin: Yes! So, tickets are on sale now, $25 per person. We highly recommend you get them beforehand, but they will be available at the door. Yeah, we’ll have music from 7:00 to 9:00 from the Taylor Made Band, and our menu, though, is really delicious.
Mike Eves: Yeah, yeah, no, let’s go over that. Start getting me hungry and stuff, too. But yeah, Rachel, tell us a little bit about the menu items here.
Rachel Bortin: Yeah, so we got locally braised beef and local veggies, we got Chantilly potatoes, we have pasta with our chef’s special red sauce, fluffy homemade biscuits, tossed salad, and lemonade and water, but then there’ll also be a cash bar available.
Mike Eves: Oh, nice, nice! And really, it’s awesome. If you haven’t been to the Country Music Park in a while, it’s a pretty cool place to have an event, and we’re looking forward to this as well. It’s CCE’s—which is Cornell Cooperative Extension Cortland’s—Big Night Out. You guys have a great Facebook page as well, so the QR code to get tickets are on there as well, on Facebook: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cortland County.
Now, Rachel, unfortunately, Camp Owahta had been in the news here, oh, what was it, a year and a half ago or so, maybe a little longer than that, where you guys had a fire and stuff, too. Can you tell me a little bit about how it’s been coming back from that and stuff, too? I know you guys had lost some items of the camp and things, too, but I feel like the community rally cry really came and supported you guys. You want to tell us a little bit about that?
Rachel Bortin: Sure, yeah. Unfortunately, we had our arts and crafts building/pavilion burn down, which was a congregating space for a lot of campers and staff. There was a lot of mixed emotions this summer with it not being there, but the community has been great. Businesses have been sending money in and asking how they can help. We’ve had a lot of work days in the last year…
Mike Eves: Awesome.
Rachel Bortin: …and we’re just hoping to both build up our infrastructure that we currently have so we can keep sustaining generations coming through, and then envisioning what a new space might look like.
Mike Eves: Oh, that’s awesome to hear that. Really turning a negative into a positive thing, I think, is good, and looking forward to the future as well, Rachel. Again, I don’t know if we had the date, so it’s coming up 5:00 to 9:00, October 17th next month, Cortland’s Big Night Out helping Camp Owahta. Rachel, anything else you want to say before we are just out of time here on this interview?
Rachel Bortin: Just thank you so much for hopefully coming out and supporting us, and thank you for being a sponsor.
Mike Eves: Yeah, no, we’re happy to do that. Love what you guys are doing here, and getting the kids involved with nature I think’s a really good thing, so.
Rachel Bortin: Yes, we need to get outside more.
Mike Eves: Yes, that’s right. That’s Rachel Bortin, and she’s the Outdoor Recreation and Camp Director at Camp Owahta, and I’m Mike Eves right here on X101. Rachel, thanks for having me.
Rachel Bortin: Thank you so much.
