Luxury will meet camping on Rockaway Beach if a Kickstarter campaign can help fund the project.
Inspired by the tent colonies of the 1900s, the idea to bring “glamping” — a mash-up of glamour and camping — to the shores of Queens is the brainchild of New York-based designer and founder of Milktrout LLC, Kent Johnson.
Camp Rockaway, a chic “tent-hotel,” combines “beach camping heritage with modern amenities,” according to the project’s Kickstarter website.
It will feature safari-style canvas tents on a landscaped campground overlooking Jamaica Bay and just a short walk from the beach. Each tent is fully furnished, with real beds, crisp, white linen sheets and summer-weight blankets. Amenities include private fire pits, outdoor showers and hot tubs overlooking the bay.
Johnson hopes Camp Rockaway will aid in the community’s efforts to restore the beach following Superstorm Sandy.
That vision includes a team of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified and proficient installers of green-building strategies, which aims to help restore and protect the site’s native environment.
The team has been researching, designing and trying to find support for the project for more than a year, and Johnson has just set up a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 to make Camp Rockaway a reality.
Those who pledge $25 or more will receive a gift, ranging from a Camp Rockaway friendship bracelet to a private stay for 20 friends during the soft-launch phase.
A portion of pledges will also go toward sponsoring a kid participating in STOKED, a mentoring program that for almost a decade has been teaching low-income kids in New York City and Los Angeles to surf and skateboard, for a one-night stay at Camp Rockaway.
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