YMCA Camp Ocoee

This YMCA camp was established in 1923.  Imagine that, almost 100 years of a running residential camp.  Many changes have occurred for this camp, I’m sure.  One of the more recent changes, was to keep up with the need for a functional and modern website.  Camp Ocoee, based in beautiful Ocoee, TN and operated out of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga, was a fun website to construct.  The best part of this project to me, was helping this camp better represent their amazing location, activities and programs online.  Their old website was really a disservice to the excellence of the camp, and the new website uses lots of visuals (graphics & video) to bring their camp to life through the computer screen.

Technical Breakdown

The premise of this project was simple: build a modern website that is a replicable template for other YMCA camps to use for their own use.  We set out to build something that a coalition of YMCA Camps could rally around, both in design and content.  Here are some of the highlights & features:

• Drupal 8
• Porto Theme
• Fully Responsive (Mobile-Friendly)
• HTML 5 Video Background (Front Page Hero)
• Image Gallery to feature Campground
• Full Camp Registration Process Online
• “Countdown to Camp” feature
• Brand Compliant to YMCA Brand Standards
• Custom HTML / CSS / Javascript
• Google Cloud Hosting
• Mailgun Email Notifications

This website was not only a visual upgrade, but a functional one.  This past year of camp, they sold out.  Online registrations were a huge step in the right direction for this team.  A Camp staff member is notified via email with each registration, with information included to follow up directly with the registrant.  There’s even more great information on this project, with more data & measurable results, in the blog “Camping Out Online”.

Thank you to the team at YMCA Camp Ocoee for being such a great team to work with, and for the continued relationship to make the best camp website we can moving forward.