Wakonda Campground can be found on 82 acres near the Schroon River, and on the shores of Wakonda Lake, a 35-acre private waterbody.
It was originally a boys camp that opened in 1919, but it became a campground by the middle of the century. Gene Ostertag purchased the camp in 1971 and made it a family campground.
Gene and Marlene Ostertag converted their campground to cooperative ownership in 1990. This allows people to buy shares in the corporation which allows them to purchase one of the campground’s 16 cottages or 132 campsites.
Kim Frazier, campground manager, stated this week that Wakonda is the only New York State campground owned cooperatively. She said that many of the cottages and campsites were passed down from one generation.
Wakonda’s campsites will be open to shareholders from May 15 to September. However, the cottages can still be occupied all year, Frazier stated.
There are tennis, basketball, volleyball, and pickleball courts, as well as a softball court, a playground for children, and a dog park. The campground also features a central lounge/camp store building that offers games and television viewing, 2 sandy beaches, boat launches, and a recreation hall with a stage and dance floor that overlooks Lake Wakonda. There are also boat launches on 2 waterways.
Celebration of the 50th anniversary featured a dedication to the recreation hall by the Ostertags, who was retired from active management but still serve on the board of directors.
The festivities were punctuated by Michael Palombo, a shareholder from Albany who has been associated with Wakonda since the 1970s. He spoke about the campground’s importance to him and others over the years while also describing the campground’s rich past.
Matt Simpson, the former supervisor of Horicon, presented the Ostertags a proclamation to honor their long-standing support of the campground.
Visitors, shareholders, and friends also enjoyed a meal and ice-cream social hosted by the campground management.