Bluffton/Fort Wayne South KOA Offering Free Night of Camping on May 11

10th annual event also raising funds for KOA Care Camps for children with cancer 

The Bluffton/Fort Wayne South KOA Campground, located at 1625 W Lancaster St in Bluffton, is offering a free night of camping on Saturday, May 11 to all campers who stay at the campground as paying guests on Friday, May 10 at part of KOA’s 10th Anniversary KOA Care Camps “Big Weekend.”

Thousands of North American camping families will be headed to their favorite Kampgrounds of America locations for this very special weekend, the official start of the 2013 summer camping season.

Last year, more than 25,000 camping families stayed at more than 400 participating KOA campgrounds in the U.S. and Canada. The event, created in 2004, provides a free night of camping on Saturday, May 11, to all campers staying as paying guests on Friday, May 10.

KOA campgrounds have several fun events planned that are designed to both entertain campers, and help raise funds to support KOA Care Camps, a system of 52 specialized summer camps around North America that provide a true summer camp experience for children with cancer and their siblings. Last year, more than $500,000 was raised during the Care Camps “Big Weekend” event to benefit KOA Care Camps.

“The very special kids who benefit from these Care Camps depend on us and our camping guests,” said KOA CEO Jim Rogers. “The funds raised all year long at KOA Campgrounds has really become an essential part of the cure for these young cancer victims.”

“The Big Weekend event has also become the official start to the summer camping season for thousands of camping families in North America,” said Rogers. “It is a wonderful way to reconnect with friends and family, give camping a try, or just pull your RV out to your local KOA and get it ready for a fun summer camping season. At the same time, you get to help raise funds to send some very deserving children to a much needed summer camp.”

Campers can to go www.KOA.com to see a list of participating campgrounds and make their reservations. Some campgrounds will be offering their KOA Cabins and Deluxe Cabins for the event, so campers are encouraged not to wait to make their reservations.

Campers are also reminded to enter the 2013 Great KOA Giveaway for a chance to win a new $40,000 Keystone Cougar recreational vehicle, and a decade of free KOA camping. Weekly prizes from KOA, Cabela’s and Weber Grills are also available. Find Kampgrounds of America, Inc. on Facebook to enter today.

Kampgrounds of America, founded on the banks of the Yellowstone River in Billings, Montana in 1962, is now the world’s largest system of open-to-the-public family campgrounds. KOA has 486 locations in the United States and Canada.