Here at the Y, we love celebrating our members, our children, and the spirit of reciprocity that supports all our initiatives. There are countless volunteers who lend their time and brilliance to the Y. Donors, too. We are often so busy celebrating the seemingly limitless capacity of our Y community that some of our foundational features can be overlooked. Like buildings. Structures that house artists, provide shelter, and make room for kids to be kids. One steadfast building that keeps showing up for children and community is McEvoy Lodge.  

Due to the generosity of the McEvoy family, the lodge was built on the Camp Knickerbocker property on Barters Island Road in 1984, when it immediately began its service as an educational site for local youth. During its tenure, McEvoy Lodge has served as a site for Head Start early education, community band practice, gathering space for the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, weekly AA meetings, and more. Today, it serves nearly fifty children in our after-school programs. The safe haven of McEvoy Lodge continues to help youth cultivate friendships, learn social emotional skills that help them become healthier in their minds and bodies, and gain critical thinking skills through experiential learning opportunities. 

In summer, McEvoy Lodge stands to greet every child and family arriving at Camp Knickerbocker. During camp, it houses rehearsals for arts programming, science exploration, and technology discovery. It also serves as a refuge for children who need to take a break, step out of the sun and reconnect with their inner calm. McEvoy Lodge shows up for so many, and in so many ways. It is a place where comradery, leadership, and exploration are modeled by Camp K counselors who are recruited from a dozen countries—and housed locally by the Y—as part of our overall commitment to diversity and teaching youth how to engage as global citizens.  

McEvoy Lodge has stood sentry at Camp Knickerbocker for forty years, providing the only indoor space for youth activities at summer camp and after-school programming. It is used every day of the year for youth programming, and we simply could not offer all the varied experiences for youth without its use. So, we are grateful. On July 26th the Y invites the community to join us in celebrating Camp Knickerbocker’s 40th birthday.   

For those of us who run nostalgic, this summer is the perfect time to visit the lodge before change arrives at McEvoy Lodge. Extensive renovations to the lodge are planned to show our gratitude for its service, and our need to increase space for essential youth programming. As the Y grows, McEvoy Lodge will too. This staple building will expand to include additional space for dining, programming, and events. A wrap-around porch will provide shelter for Maine’s quickly-changing weather and support continuity of programming. Educators in our Child Enrichment Center and Harbor Montessori School can plan field trips to the renovated lodge to increase our children’s connection to the natural world, while helping them build aspirations for future attendance at Camp Knickerbocker. Throughout McEvoy Lodge’s 40 years, our kids and community have been able to depend on this essential structure. We hope you’ll join us in celebrating the support this building has offered while we keep an eye toward the future and the expanding needs of our youth.