Friends of Holiday House gathered Saturday night to celebrate the camp's 96th season with a kick off night of barbecue, music and dancing as a crowd of around 200 gathered under tents on the grounds of a summer camp that is tucked away on the outskirts of Huntington.

Pink, yellow, purple, red and blue screened wooden cabins full of bunk beds line one side of the property. A large lawn, playground equipment, a pool, a large screened gazebo where campers can play in rainy weather, and a campfire area fill the rest of the grounds. Facing the road is a large building that was remodeled several years ago and is home to offices, the kitchen and dining area, the thrift shop and computer labs.

North Shore Holiday House was formed in 1914 by a group of Huntington and Cold Spring Harbor women. Since then, local community members have financially supported Holiday House, providing summer camp each season free of charge to approximately 200 girls, ages 7 to 11, whose family income meets the USDA guidelines for free and reduced school lunches. This weekend's spring fundraiser, a winter holiday house tour and a bi-annual garage sale are major fundraisers, along with proceeds from the thrift shop and donations.

Campers attend one of four two-week sessions where they sleep in small cabins and participate in traditional camp activities. They also experience the camp's reading program, where youth from the community come in Wednesday nights to read in each cabin; a computer workshop; a literacy program that brings in visiting authors, illustrators, and storytellers; and an environmental program that includes trips to the Nature Conservancy, Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery.

Half the camp counselors come from abroad, through Camp America, and half are local girls who have come up through the Campers to Counselors program, said Janice Rochstein, Holiday House staff member. "We have two girls as counselors in training this year who have come since they were 7 and they're now 16," Rochstein said. The camp also has a new director this year, Megan Dunphy, who was head counselor last year.

Preparation for the campers' arrival involves community and school groups in cleaning the bunkhouses and grounds. Students from area schools earn community service hours by building shelves and cleaning the grounds, Girl Scout troops have in the past cleaned the cabins and planted flowers, and an Eagle Scout refurbished the gazebo as his project and another created the garden. "We've been trying to get a lot of the community in here," Rochstein said. "It's amazing that an organization could exist this long with community support. Imagine trying to get something like this started today."

The camp varies the programs to offer different experiences since it has many returning campers. This year, for example, it plans to introduce yoga and is looking for donations of 30 yoga mats. "I'm excited about offering yoga this year," said Lori Cerbone, board member. "We're trying to make a mind-body awareness and a self-awareness connection for the girls."

Each camp session has two weeks to get its girl-power curriculum going strong with the campers. "We teach leadership, self awareness, problem solving -- all those skills that will help the girls in life," Rochstein said. "We also hope to have a mentoring program this summer, where girls can see women from different professions and spend some time with them. We want them to realize women need to be supportive of each other."

The community outreach is paying dividends. Lesa Dresher, a member of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, attended the garage sale and learned about needs at Holiday House. Next weekend, NARI members are donating their services to scrape and paint the porches and the cabin fronts.

In addition to the traditional camp program and enrichment activities, campers learn about international relations and cultural differences from counselors who in past years have come from England, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, Guyana, Sweden, Ireland, Russia, Romania and Germany. This is the sixth year for a counselor from Germany, who this year is head counselor, noted Janet Barone, a past president and board member.

Food for Saturday's barbecue was provided by Prime Catering of Garden City, drinks were provided by Sandy and John Finley, and music for a night of dancing was donated by Beach Drive, a band from Lloyd Harbor.

To learn more about North Shore Holiday House www.nshh.org