A few changes have come to camp spindrift, the Cape Ann YMCA summer site in West Gloucester.

The camp has a different theme each week. Theses themes include events held at the camp as well as field trips to places such as Fenway Park. Other themes include Olympic week, talent show week, and under-the-sea week.

The camp, for children ages 4 to 15, averages about 140 children a week. Children can sign up on a weekly basis, and school bus transportation is available. Some of the older children can sign up for a counselor-in-training program.

Rick Doucette, the executive director of the Cape Ann YMCA, said the organization is trying to make the camp available to the community.
 
"We've started something new this year where we can open up the camp every afternoon to the community from 4 to 5:30 p.m.," he said. The service is free to YMCA members. Nonmembers pay $15 a family to use the pool, volleyball court, ball field, picnic pavilion and grounds.
 
"The thought is that we want to have the camp be a community resource and be a community park, and hopefully it will evolve more over the years," Doucette said.
 
Camp Spindrift, partially located on the shore of the Annisquam River, is also open for rental for company outings and reunions on the weekends.
 
The camp, which the local YMCA has run for the past 60 years, is now under the leadership of Moriah Tyrrell, who has worked for the organization for about seven years.
 
"We have a lot of new staff," Tyrrell said. "I tried to hire older and more experienced staff, either currently in college or out of college, to develop quality and reliability, and the new counselors have done a great job.
 
Ian Victorine and J.P Paul are among the councelors who attended the camp themselves as children.
 
"There is a continuity of campers evolving and carrying on traditions", Doucette said. "We have new staff and veteran staff who worked with me when I ran the camp four years ago."
 
Tyrrell, who lives in Gloucester with her husband, also holds the post of  senior project director, which means she is in charge of the family and youth programs for the Cape Ann organization.
 
The camp has been fun she said. "I like getting to know the kids," Tyrrell said. "Last week was carnival night and the kids were so excited to show their parents around and introduce their parents to the counselors."
 
Although this is Tyrrell's first year in Gloucester, she oversaw programs at the YMCA in Marblehead and Beverly. A graduate of Wheelock College, she said she enjoys teaching, developing new programs and enhancing existing programs.
 
Another new face at the camp is aquatics director Gwen Callahan. She brings to camp her experience with the Red Sox and Disney, along with her love of swimming. She holds a master's degree in sports marketing.