Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Meadville KOA Celebrating 35 Years of Fun!



 
Meadville KOA Campground is celebrating 35 years of serving camping families.  Located just seven miles east of Meadville on Route 27, this one-time fish hatchery and auction barn is now a highly rated, award-winning KOA Campground.

“We have multiple generations of campers camping with us,” said Meadville KOA owner Tim Chilson. “We’ve not only served them and their children, but we now have their grandchildren and great-grandchildren camping with us.  Our goal is to provide a fun and safe family camping environment where families make memories that last a lifetime.”

The Meadville KOA is offering multiple special discounts and vacation specials this summer to celebrate their 35th year of operation, as a thank you to their camping guests.  Those discounts can be found on their website at http://www.meadvillekoa.com/Discounts.html.

“We’ve got some great discounts planned for the 2013 camping season as a thank you to the great camping families who’ve camped with us over these many years,” Chilson said.  “We’ve been very fortunate to meet and serve so many wonderful camping families over our 14 years of ownership.  It is truly our pleasure to serve them, and we’re honored that they rate our facilities and service so highly.  We’ve watched their children, and in some cases grandchildren grow up to become fine citizens and young adults.” 

The land was originally purchased from the Holland Land Company in 1893 by the McClemens family, who built a homestead and barn at the site in 1914, in an area known at that time as McClemen’s Flats.

In 1945, the Roae family purchased the property and turned the farm into an auction barn and built ponds for a fish hatchery, where they raised and sold flathead minnows for fishing in Pymatuning Lake. In 1978, they turned the auction barn and farm into Brookdale 1914 Campground, taking the name directly from the date on the old red barn and the brook that runs through the center of the property.

The barn served as the main building complex for the campground until it burned in 1984. The campers helped rebuild the main building, which now serves the campers and local community with a camping & mini-mart store, which is operated seasonally with the campground. The building also houses a recreation hall, game room, restrooms and showers, and a laundry facility for campers.

Brookdale Campground was purchased by Tim & Robyn Chilson in October of 1999 and renamed Brookdale Family Campground. Since their purchase, the Chilsons have added 10 new full-hook-up pull-thru 50 amp campsites for big rigs, free Wi-Fi to all the campsites, a new camping cabin, two new deluxe lake-front cabins, and additional rental recreation with an 18 hole mini golf, a jumping pillow, and pedal karts.

In 2011, Brookdale Family Campground was invited to join Kampgrounds of America as the Meadville KOA. KOA is the largest and most recognized camping franchise in the world with 488 member campgrounds throughout the U.S. and Canada. Meadville KOA was honored to achieve both a guest "A Rating" from Guest Reviews (GoCampingAmerica.com), and the KOA President's Awards in 2011. They have won the KOA President's Award each year since joining the KOA family.

Tim and Robyn Chilson are Certified Park Operators by ARVC (The National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds). They are members of ARVC and are graduates of the ARVC’s National School of RV Park and Campground Management.  They are members of the Pennsylvania Campground Owners Association where Tim serves as the regional vice-president for Western PA, and they are members of KOA Owners Association.   

By Robyn Chilson
Tim & Robyn Chilson Own and Operate Meadville KOA.  You can contact Robyn at 814-789-3251.

No comments:

Post a Comment