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YORKTOWN, N.Y. - The unsettled economy is not having much of an effect on registration in Yorktown's six summer camp programs.
Today is the last day for families to sign up for the camps. The town already extended the deadline one week as a courtesy to residents.
"Camp fees have not increased in four years," said Parks and Recreation Superintendent Brian Gray. "We're trying to keep it stagnant. We want to have a program that's affordable and enjoyable for the kids."
Yorktown's full-day program, held this year at Crompond Elementary School, has reached its capacity of 200 campers in grades first through sixth. Room remains in the Lakeland full-day program at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, which currently has about 120 registrants.
The town also offers half-day programs at Mohansic and Thomas Jefferson elementary schools, a pre-school program at the Yorktown Community Nursery School and a travel and adventure camp at Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School.
The travel and adventure camp, which is open to students in sixth- through ninth- grades, is a four-week program that has about 45 campers. Trips students take include Mountain Creek, Dorney Park, Six Flags and the Maritime Aquarium.
In addition, Yorktown provides an extended camp at the Yorktown Community and Cultural Center that runs from 3 to 6 p.m. after the other camps finish their day.
"We definitely keep them busy," Gray said. "My goal is to send them home and have them go to sleep."
Gray said with the uncertain economy and some households having only one parent employed it was difficult for the town to predict how camp enrollment would go this year.
"You never know going into a season," he said. "I talk to a lot of other Westchester parks departments and I see that is an issue this year."
The first day of Yorktown's five-week full-day and half-day camps is June 26 and they run through July 27. The travel and adventure and preschool camps begin on July 2.
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