GARDEN CITY, Minn. (KEYC) -Labor Day weekend is one of the busiest camping weekends of the year, and local campgrounds will be filled all weekends with campers taking one last opportunity to enjoy the outdoors before fall arrives.
For campgrounds like Shady Oaks in Garden City, the weekend comes at the end of a long and difficult summer.
Flooding ravaged the campground and volunteers had to scramble to make the area operable just weeks before the Blue Earth County Fair, which Shady Oaks hosts each year.
Even after the fair there was much work to be done before campers could return to the site, which finally reopened in August.
“It is so nice to be back,” said Robin Tietz of Shady Oaks. “There is still work to be done don’t get me wrong but it’s nice to be back in operation, getting people out here enjoying the campground enjoying camping and enjoying the last official day of summer before we get back to school and all the other things that go along with September.”
Some campgrounds like Land of Memories Park in Mankato are still without campers as cleanup from the flood continues.
Shady Oaks said that despite the grueling summer it’s nice to see people back in their usual spots enjoying the nice Labor Day weekend.
“We have several families who, this is their tradition. Every holiday is their tradition. So not being able to camp 4th of July because of the flood was a huge letdown for them. I’ve gone around and talked to all of them this weekend and they are so glad to be back, to them it’s home,” Tietz said.