Are you wanting to reconnect, reminisce and renew? Join us this summer with fellow Alumni who have served the Lord by spending a summer at Camp Manitoqua! Whether you were here 5 years ago or 25 years ago or more, we want you to join with us again and reignite the sense of community this place creates!
August 8 - 10, 2025 - Register Here!
Schedule of Events - See Full Schedule Here so you can plan your day!
Friday:
- Overnight Guests Check-in (see more information below)
Saturday
- 9:00am Check-in Opens
- 9:00 -11:00am Activities available
- 11:00am Morning Worship
- 12:00pm Group Photo & Lunch - Pig Roast
- 1:00 - 5:00pm Activities available
- 5:00pm Dinner - Aurelio's Pizza
- 6:30pm Evening Vespers
- 7:30pm Creamery Food Truck @ Camp (no cost to you our guests!)
Music at Morning Worship & Evening Vespers led by The DeGraff's (Curt '02, Katie & Gracyn)
Speaker at Morning Worship is Mark Guthrie (2011-13)
Activities all day include: tree climbing*, silent auction, swag swap, prayer requests, missions map, Hike/Walk, Words of Affirmation, Art Hut/Crafts (salvation bracelets, tie dye** and more) and Euchre!
Afternoon activities include: pool, super slides, pickle shack, camp store, campfire (singing & s'mores), game room, food crafts (oreo balls, puppy chow and classic camp cookies), classic camp games (water balloon contest, shaving cream wiffle ball and bingo)
We want options for both you and any family or friend you bring along!
* Tree Climbing has become a camp favorite over the last several years! We do need to have sign-ups as can have 16 climbers for one hour of climbing. Tree Climbing is limited to 3rd grade and up. Staff can sign up at Check-in for one of the following time slots: 9:30 - 10:30; 1:15 - 2:15; 2:15-3:15; 3:15 - 4:15. We will ask you at check-in if anyone wants to climb. Thank you for your flexibility with this!
** For Tie-dye, we have white rally towels with the camp logo on it available for your family to tie-dye if you want to do that! Feel free to bring your own t-shirt or other item of your choice to tie-dye!
Sunday
- Here is a list of local churches with Alumni on staff that have invited Alumni to join with them on Sunday, August 10:
- Living Springs Community Church - Glenwood, IL (Rich Albrecht, Cristin Verver)
- First Church, Lansing, IL (Ken Wojnarowski)
- Thorn Creek Reformed Church, South Holland, IL (Mark Morris)
More than a reunion:
To expand the options available to alumni, the committee wants to do more than just provide fun activities for you to participate in. To also show support for each other and the ministry, we will be organizing these special events for alumni to participate in. Again, about a month before the event, we will email out additional information and invite you to begin participating in these:
- Silent Auction - will link and open on Wednesday, August 6th @ noon! Open to those in attendance and those who are unable to join us! We will work with the "buyer/donor" to get you your basket if you are not in attendance.
- Swag Swap - bring items to swap with other staff! We will have old camp tshirts for you to take with you if you want them!
- Prayer Request Wall - share your requests with us and your fellow alumni!
- Words of Affirmation Wall - do you have encouraging words for someone else? Come ready to share those with them!
- Missions Map - we are going to have a map in the Chapel labeled with former alumni who are now serving in missions around the globe! If you know of anyone serving in missions, please email alumni@manitoqua.org!
So come prepared to participate and contribute to these events. If you are not attending and want to add anything to these areas, please feel free to participate by emailing alumni@manitoqua.org!
Overnight cabin accommodations:
Overnight accommodations are available for Friday and Saturday evening in our new Acorn and Birchwood Cabins and the Oaks (formerly called M/N)! For those who sign up for lodging, we will have a continental breakfast available for the next morning.
The cost is $25 per family/per night. Reserve your space to stay at camp through the registration process here.
HOTEL BLOCK OPTION #1: We have reserved a block of rooms at the Country Inn & Suites located at 18315 S LaGrange Rd, Tinley Park, IL 60487. To get the group pricing for Manitoqua, use this link to book your stay for 1 or 2 nights. Cost is $174 per night. Rooms will be released on Friday, August 1, 2025
As of July 29, 2025 ROOMS HAVE BEEN RELEASED - may have rooms available for Friday night, Saturday sold out: HOTEL BLOCK OPTION #2: We have reserved a block of rooms at the Wingate by Wyndham located at 18421 N Creek Dr, Tinley Park, IL 60477. To get the group pricing for Manitoqua, use this link to book your stay for 1 or 2 nights. Cost is $149.99 per night.
Costs:
For both meals and lodging, please contact alumni@manitoqua.org if you need any assistance with payment! We do not want there to be any barriers to coming!
We will be recommending a $5 per person per meal (or $20 per family per meal) payment at the time of registration but will be taking donations to help defray the costs of the event.
Registration:
Is Open! Also, if you have not yet done so, please update your information to make sure you are receiving our mail and emails!
Questions:
If you have any questions, email alumni@manitoqua.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible!
Alumni Weekend 2015
On Saturday, July 25, 2015, we had the opportunity to open our grounds to 150 former summer staff and their families. It was a great day reconnecting with one another, grilling up burgers and brats, swimming in the pool, giving tours of grounds, and ending our time together with a time of gathered worship.
Check out some of the pictures from 2015.
During our time of gathered worship we had former summer staff share some testimonies about how camp has impacted their life. Mark Starr was unable to attend the event but he did send in the following letter:
So glad that people want to remember what God has done at Manitoqua in the past and reconnect with old friends once again. I wish that I was able to be there and to celebrate some of the things that God has done over the years and catch up with many of you.
Some may say that there is little value in remembering the past and call us a bunch of sentimental old people for doing so but the Bible shows us that there is great value in remembering what the Lord has done in the past. My hope is that as you remember what God did at Manitoqua many years ago and the relationships forged in the midst of that work, it will remind you of God’s greatness and encourage you to seek the Lord and His Spirit in the days ahead.
For me, this “place of the Spirit” was a witness that God could use ordinary people like me if He chose to do so and that Godly community can be an amazing thing worth working for. My hope is that you will enjoy your time at Manitoqua and it will renew your hunger for God’s Spirit and His community and ways in your life.
Sincerely,
Mark Starr