SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) — Camp Leif Ericson in Sioux Falls is making history.
The YMCA-run children’s day camp has appointed the first woman to ever lead the organization.
Her new duties include helping create a spooky vibe on the campgrounds, ahead of Halloween.
Caley Harr is a trailblazer in her own right as she hikes through Camp Leif Ericson’s Trail of Terror Halloween display.
“So far, I think it’s been a smooth transition. I don’t know that too many people have noticed. But that’s okay with me. I like to fly under the radar a lot of the time,” Harr said.
Harr is Leif Ericson’s first woman to serve as camp director. She had been the camp’s book-keeping, development and operations director. Before that, she worked for the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society for nearly ten years. A job that prepared her well for camp director.
“We have a lot of wildlife. We have dumpsters and we have a whole plethora of raccoons that are laying out and especially when they’re full of kids’ garbage,” Harr said.
“Isn’t that creepy?”
Among Harr’s first duties as the new director include helping with setup of Terror 29’s Terror Trail haunted woods display.
“We got a road, a brand-new road here at camp. She’s got construction cones for us to do the queue lines. We’re talking at least every couple of days of what needs to get provided for the Trail of Terror, so she’s been awesome. I couldn’t ask for someone better,” Terror 29 owner Zac Tenneboe said.
The appointment of a woman camp director is a long time in coming since Camp Leif Ericson has been around for more than a century.
“I know, traditionally, way, way back, there was probably not a lot of female camp attendees ever at the beginning of everything and shifting that focus and just making things ever so slightly more geared toward to be more inclusive as a whole,” Harr said.
One of Harr’s priorities as camp director is to get kids who are used to spending time indoors and online to gain an appreciation of all that nature has to offer. Nothing scary about that.
“Teaching them the respect and making sure that they go home tired and dirty at the end of day,” Harr said.
Harr grew up in Sioux Falls, but she never attended summer camp at Leif Ericson as a child.
The camp is hosting its first-ever Spook & Sprint, a nighttime 5K run and 1-mile walk through the camp on October 4th.
The Terror Trail opens on October 10th.
