MONTREAL — It’s not a revival of Pripstein’s, but the new Camp Wingate will open this summer on the same Laurentian site and carry on many of the former camp’s traditions.

Camp Wingate director Laurie Wiseman said registration is sufficient to allow the new private sleepaway camp in St. Adolphe d’Howard to begin operations this season. “We only started in February, which is a little late,” said Wiseman, “but we have enough campers to go ahead. We are a relatively small camp.”

The camp, which can accommodate up to about 200 children, is continuing to accept registration, she said. 

The co-ed camp for kids aged 7-17 years will run for 6-1/2 weeks, with two  4-1/2- and full-session (June 25-Aug. 10) options available.

“The bulk of those registering are Pripstein’s returnees – they are a very loyal group – but we have new people as well,” she said. “We’re trying to reach out to others.”

Wiseman, who attended Pripstein’s for 13 years  during which she became the camp’s first female head counsellor, and another ex-camper and counsellor Cory Pecker, a former professional hockey player, are the prime movers behind Camp Wingate.

Like Pripstein’s, the camp is open to everyone, but will have a Jewish vibe.

Both were shocked when majority owner Ronnie Braverman announced in December that he was closing Pripstein’s Camp Mishmar – its formal name – after 74 years. Braverman, who is a grandson of founders Chaim and Pearl Pripstein, said enrolment had been declining for decades, blaming that on the decline of the camp’s traditional market: anglophone, relatively secular middle-class Montreal Jewish families. It was the last of the private Jewish camps that once flourished in the Laurentians.

Wiseman, who has owned and directed the Sunny Acres Day Camp in Ste. Anne de Bellevue since 1996, which now has 800 campers, and Pecker, who ran Pripstein’s popular hockey program for some years, believe that there is still a niche for a camp like that.

“We are keeping the best of Pripstein’s, its spirit and great facilities, and infusing our own ideas. The concept needed an overhaul, to be freshened up a little,” said Wiseman. “But I think there is still a market. It’s very doable.”

Wiseman said they are leasing the property, which remains on the market for sale. She expects this arrangement to continue for “a few years” with purchase of the property part of the long-term plan.

Should a prospective buyer come along, Wiseman said Pecker and his brother Robby have “the first right of refusal,” that is, they have the right to purchase the property on the same terms as offered by the third party. The camp is located on 200 lakeside acres.

Cory Pecker, who played for 15 years in the Ontario and American Hockey Leagues before ending his career in Switzerland, is director of athletics at Wingate, which has an ice hockey rink. Other amenities are an indoor pool and basketball court, outdoor tennis courts, an inline skating park, and water sports facilities. The hockey program is open equally to boys and girls.

The camp is named for the Wingate Institute, a sports training centre near Netanya, Israel, said Wiseman. Wingate was the name of an athletic program at Pripstein’s sometime during her time there from between about 1980 to 1993. 

The camp’s logo is a winged “W” and the colours are blue and gold.

Wingate will maintain Pripstein’s Jewish orientation. The food will be “kosher style,” brachot will be said before meals, Israel’s national anthem Hatikvah will be sung at the dinner-time flagpole, and an Oneg Shabbat will be held every Friday night, where prayers will be recited over candles and challah at a traditional Shabbat dinner, and Hebrew songs sung afterward.

While the sports component is strong, Wiseman said Wingate caters to a wide range of interests, in particular the visual and performing arts. 

A special guest will be young adult novelist Sarah Mlynowski, a Montreal native now living in New York who spent 10 summers at Pripstein’s.

All staff are at least 18 years old, she added. The “camp mother” is Josie Gold, who was a Pripstein’s camper and staff member from 1972 to 1987, and remained the camp’s graphics designer until it closed. She is married to another Pripstein’s alumnus, Cleve Ziegler.

“We know what it takes to build a strong camp and we are committed to creating a truly special place for our campers, a camp that is small in size and where all campers are known and cared for, each for their own unique personality,” said Wiseman.