NOVA — Pamela and Todd McCreary have spent the past decade building Country Stage Campground into one of Ashland County’s top five campgrounds.
Now they’re taking their 150-site campground a step further by reopening April 27 as the Cleveland Sandusky Jellystone Park.
A grand opening ceremony with Yogi Bear, Cindy Bear and Boo Boo will also take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 28, with speeches by Ashland mayor Matt Miller and Amy Daubenspeck, executive director of the Ashland Convention & Visitors Bureau, who will talk about the impact of the Cleveland/Sandusky Jellystone Park on the local economy.
“We’re beyond excited at this point,” Pamela McCreary said, adding that the park already has close to 20 reservations for their opening weekend, despite the cool weather. “We’ve never had so many people make reservations for our opening weekend.
“These are all new campers and they’re coming because we’re a Jellystone Park.”
Jellystone Parks are famous for providing fun, family activities and themed weekends that include everything from crafts and games to wagon rides, she said. Themed weekend activities, such as Hawaiian weekends, often include limbo contests, sand castle building and a luau.
Mardi Gras themed weekends include parades, cookouts and dances, while Christmas in July weekends include campsite decorating contests, campsite caroling, cookie and ornament making activities. The increasingly popular Halloween themed weekends include costume and campsite decorating contests and trick or treating activities.
All of these activities give Jellystone Parks the ability to provide families with experiences they can’t find anywhere else, McCreary said.
The McCrearys have been busy adding new signage and other improvements, including an outdoor movie area and rental accommodations.
Other amenities include a gaga ball pit, a mining sluice, a cafe and a three-acre catch-and-release fishing lake.
There are currently 84 Jellystone Parks across the U.S. and Canada, and the network continues to expand as growing numbers of family owned campgrounds join the Jellystone Park franchise system.
McCreary said Jellystone is a good fit for her park.
“Our park is already very family oriented and very friendly,” she said. “We treat people like they are all our friends. We sell fun. We tell our staff, ‘Smile and talk to people like you’ve known them all your life.’ It starts at the top.”
It’s an approach that has enabled the McCrearys to build a large following of repeat campers who come back to their park year after year.
They expect their customer base to grow even larger now that they are a Jellystone Park.
Ohio’s other Jellystone Parks are located in Holmes County, Mt. Gilead and Akron, all of which can be found at www.CampJellystone.com.
