Grand Opening

Glamping interior

glamping_litWe did it!  After nearly 3 years, a lot of planning and hard work, we have finally opened for business.  For those of you who have been following along on the journey, thank you for your support.  I wanted to take a few moments and share a few shout outs, some photos from opening weekend and few more news updates.

Dan and I have a love of camping that is decades old.  It’s grown as we have, nurtured by our mutual appreciation for the outdoors, adventure and travel.  Like many nomadic soIMG_2017uls, our travels have led us around the globe and back again, finally to settle into a new rhythm of hospitality and community, sharing the Nevada City and the Gold Country with the world.  The Inn Town Campground is the manifestation of that new rhythm.  Since the planning, building and opening of the campground has been such an important part of our lives, Dan and I want to take a moment to thank the many people and businesses that have helped us make this dream a reality…because building a campground from the ground up has taken an entire team of dedicated friends, family and professionals.

On the construction side of things, we want to thank our general contractors, M K & Sons Construction and S & P Excavating.  Thank you Mark for making these buildings are reality. Thank you to Ken & Mike, the father / son duo whose understanding of the land, topography and our vision has made the Inn Town Campground much of what it looks like today. Thanks also to Theos Electric, Ralphie’s concrete services, MPC Drywall, C &D Construction, All Phase Heating & Air, Absolute Communications, Northstar Trucking and Chris the Plumber, Thad Little and all who contributed in their unique ways to help the job move forward.

We also want to thank the City of Nevada City, which has been a huge asset in helping us navigate the regulatory and permitting process, from the initial use permit stage, to construction.  The City staff and officials support the project early-on and appreciated its benefit to the community.

Inn Town Campground store, photo by Lenkaland Photography

In the engineering department many thanks to Bryan McAlister from Sierra Land Solutions, John Payne from Del Valle Consulting and Michael from Melas Engineering.  We’ve worked with many local vendors and friends including Sierra Sun Fences, Hutchinson Enterprises, Gary Apple for our custom signs, Grass Valley Sign, Liz Thiem for our logo and brochure, plus many more.  Our camp store includes local businesses including Carolines Coffee, Cello Chocolate, Two Girls Beef Jerky, Folk Trails Hiking Club, plus a number of Inn Town Campground goodies. Ribbon Cutting, photo by RV California

Thanks to the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce for organizing a ribbon cutting ceremony; it was great to see such a strong show of support for our project.

Inn Town CampgroundIn addition to all the behind the scenes support, we need to give a huge shout out to our staff, we opened the doors on Fourth of July weekend with a packed campground full of campers and they helped figure things out on the go.  Thanks to Jed, our campground manager, for his dedication, our front house office staff: Jenny, Katherine, Paige, Carleigh, Julia and Crystal, with help from the housekeeping staff, Carol, Shelley, Xanthe, Chelsea, Emma, Eden and our outside crew of Jordan, Max, Zach & Chano. tent_camping_KialJames

The new mayor of Nevada City, my mother, Evans Phelps, said with pride, “The Inn Town Campground is the best thing to happen to Nevada City in a long time.”  Many thanks to her artistic vision and interior design help.  All of our glamping tents come with unique decor and the inside of The Commons features a nice collection of local photography.

We’ve gotten more great press, if you have seen our In The New Section, check out the great write up on Forbes.com, NBC Bay Area Blog, The Venue Report, KNCO and the front page of The Union.

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It was truly magical for us to watch the campground come to life, from the vision of all the glamping tents lit up at night, to tent campers pitching their tents and cooking at their picnic tables, to the families hanging out in their RVs.  I loved discovering campers baking scones in the Commons, people playing ping pong and entire families enjoying the outdoor movie screening.  The best word to describe the entire opening week is “surreal”.  After dreaming, planning, working and working some more, there’s something amazing about sitting down and watching it all unfold in front of you.  So thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for all of you who have followed us along (whether via social media or fans of the Outside Inn) or those of you who have taken a leap of faith and shared your excitement of the project, sight unseen.  I know we have forgotten someone, for that we apologize, but appreciate everyone’s effort in helping us get this campground up and running.

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Photos by Lenkaland Photography, Kial James Photography, Erin Thiem, Kristan Mihelic, Tracye Coleman and Angelo Regalbuto

11 replies
  1. Lisa Johnson
    Lisa Johnson says:

    Kudos to you, Erin and Dan, for persevering and getting the job done so your dream is a reality and a real asset to our community. We walked through before the finishing touches were in place and could already tell what a special place Inn Town Campground is. Congratulations for a job well done.????????

    Reply
  2. Evans Phelps
    Evans Phelps says:

    great post Erin.. I am loving watching the inn town campground blossom. Congratulations. The reality is even better than the vision. Dan, you are amazing.

    Reply
  3. Cathy Anderson-Meyers
    Cathy Anderson-Meyers says:

    Congratulations Erin, Dan & the entire family. I’ll continue to follow your success. The site is beautiful. Keep up the good work!

    Reply
  4. Georgia Gray
    Georgia Gray says:

    I stayed at the Inn Town Campground this weekend and was thrilled with everything about it! Even though it is in the city limits, the setup of the campground is such that you feel like you are in a forest away from everything. Even though the campground was full, all of the campers were quiet which made it easy to fully enjoy the beautiful natural setting that includes absolutely glorious trees. The kitchen facilities are incredible! There is a full kitchen and dining room area in the communal building with everything imaginable needed for cooking and dining absent only the food, and there are sinks with plenty of counter space for preparing food and washing dishes attached to each bathroom building for campers who want to cook at their campsite. The communal building also includes a nice bathroom and family room/living room area with a beautiful rock fireplace with what I think is a wood burning stove, books, games, comfortable chairs, and a big screen T.V. Last, but definitely not least, every member of the staff was friendly and very helpful. I have been camping for over 40 years, and I can easily say that I have never had a better campground experience. My husband, who joined me for the second night, is an avid outdoorsman, and even he was very impressed. Lucky for me, I live close by, and I fully intend to take advantage of that fact by staying there as often as I can.

    Reply

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] Happy Birthday to Inn Town Campground!  July 1st was our first birthday; and wow it’s been an amazing first year in business.  We still look around the campground in awe of all the things that have been done since we began this project.  However, we both agree the best part about owning and running a campground is chatting with happy campers.  So, many thanks to all the folks who have supported us in this amazing journey.  For those who want to go back and read the round up from opening weekend last year, click here. […]

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