About
Camp Manitowa offers activities such as water skiing, tubing, canoeing, kayaking, and swimming, along with a 50-foot climbing tower, an eight-element high ropes course, and a 400-foot zip line. Campers also play GA GA, basketball, soccer, and a variety of other sports, and can take part in arts & crafts, biking, outdoor living skills, music, campfires, and s'mores. The program also uses bike trails, a driving range, and a frisbee golf course as part of its activity options.
• Ages: 7–16 years old
• Schedule: Summer 2025 sessions include a 3-week Session I, a 2-week Session IA, one-week Sessions IIA and IIB, and a one-week Taste Of Manitowa option
Camp Manitowa hosts coed overnight summer camps and year-round retreats for school and college groups, religious groups, scout groups, music festivals, yoga retreats, weddings, families, and wedding parties. The camp serves 80–125 campers each session and limits total campers to around 100 to create a family-like community, and it limits the number of groups in camp at one time. Camp Manitowa offers a private, traditional sleep-away summer camp program along with year-round retreat opportunities and group rentals, and it adheres to state and industry guidelines for safety. Campers choose their daily activity sessions and can repeat activities they enjoy, and the program uses an “Adventure by Choice” formula that encourages campers to move outside their comfort zone.
Camp Manitowa was co-founded in 2010 by B. Andrew “Andy” Brown and Dan Grabel after a two-year nationwide search and over $1 million invested to renovate the property. The property was previously owned by the Lake Benton Baptist Camp, which operated from 1947–2005. Andy Brown holds an MSW from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University (1992) and is a 1988 graduate of Fontbonne College in St. Louis, and he has held leadership roles at Camp Sabra, Camp Sydney R. Baer, and Camp Livingston. Dan Grabel holds a BA from Indiana University, an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, and an MEd from the University of Missouri St. Louis, and he has over 25 years of experience in residential and day camp settings plus ten years as a school social worker in Illinois and Missouri public schools. Their oldest child, Dylan, is described in camp materials as the current camp director in one section and as the current assistant director in another, and their youngest child, Lily, is the program director. The mission of Camp Manitowa is to provide each camper with lifelong memories and help them increase and develop their confidence, independence, and maturity, to gain the trust of every camper so that they return to camp and grow into kind and responsible young adults, and to provide excellent customer service and transformational experiences for all participants in its summer camps and retreats.
Last updated January 10, 2026.
• Ages: 7–16 years old
• Schedule: Summer 2025 sessions include a 3-week Session I, a 2-week Session IA, one-week Sessions IIA and IIB, and a one-week Taste Of Manitowa option
Camp Manitowa hosts coed overnight summer camps and year-round retreats for school and college groups, religious groups, scout groups, music festivals, yoga retreats, weddings, families, and wedding parties. The camp serves 80–125 campers each session and limits total campers to around 100 to create a family-like community, and it limits the number of groups in camp at one time. Camp Manitowa offers a private, traditional sleep-away summer camp program along with year-round retreat opportunities and group rentals, and it adheres to state and industry guidelines for safety. Campers choose their daily activity sessions and can repeat activities they enjoy, and the program uses an “Adventure by Choice” formula that encourages campers to move outside their comfort zone.
Camp Manitowa was co-founded in 2010 by B. Andrew “Andy” Brown and Dan Grabel after a two-year nationwide search and over $1 million invested to renovate the property. The property was previously owned by the Lake Benton Baptist Camp, which operated from 1947–2005. Andy Brown holds an MSW from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University (1992) and is a 1988 graduate of Fontbonne College in St. Louis, and he has held leadership roles at Camp Sabra, Camp Sydney R. Baer, and Camp Livingston. Dan Grabel holds a BA from Indiana University, an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, and an MEd from the University of Missouri St. Louis, and he has over 25 years of experience in residential and day camp settings plus ten years as a school social worker in Illinois and Missouri public schools. Their oldest child, Dylan, is described in camp materials as the current camp director in one section and as the current assistant director in another, and their youngest child, Lily, is the program director. The mission of Camp Manitowa is to provide each camper with lifelong memories and help them increase and develop their confidence, independence, and maturity, to gain the trust of every camper so that they return to camp and grow into kind and responsible young adults, and to provide excellent customer service and transformational experiences for all participants in its summer camps and retreats.
Last updated January 10, 2026.
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