Wayves Staff • 2024-08-09
In July 2024, Wayves interviewed Mengo Camping Club co owner Simon Thwaites.
Well, what's new?
The Dream Continues! It’s crazy to think that we've only been here 5 years. The first year we dreamt about our club, and then we started. Now, after weathering some crazy ass weather - hurricanes, rain - then COVID, and fires around the province, we are still thriving and love what we set out to create. Hurricane Fiona was perhaps the hardest hit. We had three trailers roll over - two were scrapped. Our house was damaged and we still have some huge trees down blocking our main trail. But we’re resilient buggers and it hasn’t stopped us from forging ahead.
“who is welcome here?” We are a gay camping club, and over the last few years, it's been mainly gay men enjoying the place. But those members have also brought straight friends and family.
As we hoped, Mengo Camping Club is more than just a campground. The idea of making it a private club set the mold for us being able to create a place where one doesn’t just wander in - you become a member of our collective family of choice. That initial idea of allowing gay folks to have a safe friendly space is a reality here. Simply put, forget about the city, forget about work, just come and be yourself. Gay couples can hug and kiss. One recent guest described the atmosphere as “magical”. You can enjoy fantastic sunsets, nice trails, stars at night, campfires, karaoke on weekends, the occasional special event, and monthly BBQs. Spacious comfortable washrooms are available. Someone mentioned that it's “the best getaway ever!”
As owners, Bill and I are extremely proud of our hard work, and we are also very grateful for our members who are like “family” and pitch in to help us out all the time. None of this could have happened without that extra bit of help.
One recent guest described the atmosphere as “magical”.
Some of our favourite things have changed. Bill is now the "Zen mower" - not a day goes by when he’s not eyeing that grass that has to be cut. For myself, I’ve fallen in love with the Karaoke space. Its a fantastic room and it’s great to listen to everyone blast out their favourite tunes.
As planned, we have added a small store/office, and the long-awaited pool has been built. Our ongoing renovations to the barn, which we use as a clubhouse and also to host karaoke, has been going through some major upgrades this year. With its new roof added this spring, and its new interior, people have fallen in love with it. This week we have started talking about adding a new washroom building and septic system to accommodate more serviced 3-way sites. Step by step each season, we’ve slowly built up on the initial vision for the campground.
In a previous article in Wayves , one of the questions was “who is welcome here?” We are a gay camping club, and over the last few years, it's been mainly gay men enjoying the place. But those members have also brought straight friends and family. So, we’re gay, but we all have connections, be it family or friends - those we love to share time with that are welcoming and accepting of our lives. This is a place where if they respect, love, accept you, and embrace your gay life, then cool, they may come too. This is an idea we set out to achieve from the beginning, and it seems to have worked.
We have had one or two questions about our sister lesbians, whether they are welcome or not. Most absolutely! Even though it’s mostly guys right now, as we mentioned, we do have a plan to accommodate the women too, if show up. After all, we have 119 acres to potentially develop.
This year we ran into a unique issue: all of our 3-way serviced sites got rented out, leaving us with only the tenting areas. That’s great! Now we need MORE sites with services. The plan over the next year or two is to add 18 more serviced sites.
So I think we’re a success. Slow and steady wins the race, and with our approach we plan to be around for many years to come.
Special events like BBQs are posted on our web site and Facebook page. [ed: below]
We wouldn’t turn down a few helping hands, since there's just the two of us running the place. If folks want more information, or have a skill they can help us with, please email mengocampingclub@outlook.com or drop a message via our FB page, MenGoCampingClub. Please message before showing up.
Mengo is located at 1695 Upper River John Road, Middleton, Nova Scotia. Please note this Middleton is between River John and Tatamagouche, just north of Truro. The website is here; Facebook is here.
