Christie R.
Yelp
BEWARE OF SPACIOUS LIES
In my humble opinion, Spacious Skies is the worst new Camping Franchise on the East Coast. As seasonal campers who had been at Spacious Skies Walnut Grove for several years with the previous owners, we were excited for change. We were hoping for new features at the campground and new functions. Our previous owners had gotten burnt out, they were ready for retirement and sold the campground to Spacious Skies right under our noses. We got a facebook message stating the new owners were coming in 2 days and our current owners were on their way out.
When we met Ali Rasmussen, CEO of Spacious Skies, we were assured that our little piece of heaven would have changes, but nothing drastic, Walnut Grove was her first campground purchase and she was learning a lot about running a campground from many of our seasonals.
Walnut Grove is a fairly small campground in Alfred, Maine, and as of the purchase in 2021 we had approximately 75 seasonals and about 20 some odd transient sites. We were proud of our campground! We may not all have hung around together, but we knew each other and respected each other. We all mowed and maintained our own sites, We sponsored our own events, and many of our seasonals helped with maintaining the campground without any compensation. Most seasonals had been there from over 10 years up to 30 plus years.
End of season 2021 was when the real fun began..."Agreements" (Contracts) did not come out until late August/ early September with only about a month to decide whether to stay or go. Prices increased about 30 percent. If you have been a seasonal, you know that it is extremely difficult to find another campground that late in the season to move to, and many of our seasonals were from out of state, so taking their campers, etc, home was not an option. Then after agreements were signed and an deposits were paid, an addendum to the "Agreement " came out, certain campers were advised that they would have to move to other sites throughout the campground. Effective season 2022. So even though they had signed an "Agreement" for their site, they had to move. Some campers moved their campers the beginning of season 2022, some waited until the end of the season. Many seasonals left, somewhere between 20 and 30.
Season 2022 was chaos. Staffing was changing constantly, the security gate was frequently left open. Transients would have guests sneaking in, nobody was policing the campground, they were not keeping track of which cars should be there and which shouldn't. Prices changed, ice , which was about 3 dollars a bag in 2021 was now almost 6 dollars!! The anxiety of WHEN "Agreements" coming out was THE conversation of the season.
Once again, contracts came out September 14 with about 2 weeks to sign and put in a deposit (Due Oct 1,2022. (Seriously??) Prices went up (as expected) but then it was disclosed that the were only going to be 36 sites designated for seasonals and which needed to apply and be approved. Many would have to move again. Decks needed to be reduced to 8 foot by 4 foot, no more screen rooms, no more sheds or clotheslines.
Needless to say, we left. We were starting to see the signs in 2021 and decided to start looking for a new campground. We found another family run campground that wanted and respected Seasonal Campers.
I cannot begin to describe the emotions. We were a family. A very loving family. There has been tears, and anger. So much sadness and anxiety. Expensive decks were being burnt, possessions thrown away, because there was not time to sell. Many seasonals were snow birds from Florida and had to get back. It has been extremely stressful. People who are aged in their eighties and nineties have had to relocate from sites they have occupied for over 20 years. Some seasonals have had to stay because they once again did not have time to find another campground within the time allowed with the late contracts to be able to find another place to move to. I find this whole situation to be terrible business practices, there was never clear communication from Corporate to the campground. For somebody who claims to be a seasoned and well traveled camper, Cleary Ali Rasmussen has no idea what she is doing. Ask any family run campground, your seasonals are your lifeline. They don't trash campgrounds, they respect and love their homes away from homes. I intend to post this review on any site I can find to warn people of staying at Spacious Lies, I mean Skies.
Christie Rosenberg
Berwick, Maine