By By JESSICA SIEFF / Niles Daily Star
BUCHANAN – Above the door of the registration office at Fuller's Campground it reads, 'enter as strangers, leave as friends.'
Indeed, a transition takes place when one arrives at the dead end of Clear Lake Road, the entrance to the campground. There are no neckties or collars here. They've been traded in for crocks and brightly colored swimsuits and trunks. There is no place for stress. Instead, stepping out of the car upon arrival – music floods the ear. The registration office is located inside the camp's general store, the pathway to which is framed by lush greenery and shady trees. Just over the walkway and extended deck the soft, sandy beach and luminescent waters of Clear Lake reveal themselves to visitors.
Those who haven't ventured out to Fuller's Campground in Buchanan, may have, at least, heard about it. But that is not nearly enough. The resort seems to be more of a refuge. A place to remember what it's like to run through the sand and fall into cooling waters under a hot, summer's sun. To remember the incredible bargain of penny candy, the joy of cold and creamy hard ice cream. To go back to a time when friends and family weren't penciled in – but parked right next door -armed with good conversation, better memories and s'mores.
Kirsti Dykstra came to the campground as a child and dreamed of owning it. Now, she does. She and her husband Mark are well into their fourth year of owning the resort.
Together, the two represent a balanced team. Mark, full of energy and enthusiasm can't wait to give an up-close tour of the grounds. And Kirsti, armed with her own excitement and all-encompassing savvy. Together the two amount to a core of dedication and love for the campground that is evident in the smiles of all that have come here to enjoy it.
"What this place is, is history. But it's also a place generations of families have been coming to for years," Kirsti said.
That is, 121 years to be exact. Still located not far off Bakertown Road at 1622 E. Clear Lake Road in Buchanan, the resort and campground have seen a few changes. The camp's store, for example, used to be located right on the shore. It was moved back to where it stands now. A hotel used to be perched over the lake -now, there are two cottages, available to rent on a per week basis.
Other than those minor changes, however, one can see the beachfront has changed little from its earlier days -literally. Because photos of the beach and its campground are posted all over the back wall of the store. They are right next to where visitors can pick up any of the multi-colored t-shirts, the logos which Dykstra's father designed.
"It's so funny," Kirsti said. "I wanted this 30 years ago. Now …"
Fuller's Resort and Campground brings approximately 1,200 people to the Niles-Buchanan area each weekend. The grounds are open April 15 to Oct. 31. There are two cottages, over 150 camping sites, primitive and water/electric and a primitive log cabin.
Non-campers can come to Clear Lake just to take advantage of the beach, which Kirsti said is raked every morning. There are daily rates for beach visits, just $3 per adult and $1.75 per child (after 6 p.m. it's just $1) and beach membership rates are available for the entire the season.
There are also swim tubes, rowboats, fishing boats, single and double kayaks and paddleboats for rent.
"I guarantee you will have a great time in those paddle boats," Mark said. Just near the volleyball net there is a game room that includes a juke box, pool table and foosball table.
And, arguably, most importantly, there are 16 flavors of Shermans's ice cream inside the camp store. As Kirsti looks out at a group of over 50 visitors who've come all the way from Spain, a small group of boys sit just a few feet away from her – faces stained with blue moon ice cream.
And that group of visitors from Spain isn't the only international visitors the campground has seen. Kirsti said Fuller's Resort and Campground has welcomed visitors from Israel, England, The Netherlands, Russia and Ireland, to name a few.
The campground is staffed with 24 employees, Mark said.
And, "we pride ourselves on service." On a John Deere Gator tour, he zipped through the trail to point out sites available at the campground. He stops at a large, commanding barn where there's karaoke on weekends and where the camp's dances are held.
On average he said, 50 to 100 people would come together there, spilling out onto the front deck. Just behind it, is a two-story cabin more than 100 years old. It's also available to rent for those interested in a serene and primitive experience. The cabin has no bathroom or showers. Visitors use the camp's communal showers and restrooms.
"It's just some of the most beautiful camping," Mark said.
Tents dot the woods at various primitive and electric and water sites available on the grounds. When Mark stops the Gator for a closer look at the nature surrounding campers, a relative wall of tall, handsome trees blocks all noise that had just been heard coming from the beach not far away. He stops again, this time to cut through the woods to get a glimpse of Round Lake. "Look at that," he said. "Undisturbed, not a house on it. Just beautiful." A great fishing lake, he calls it.
Fuller's holds family reunions, private parties, dances and corporate outings. This season, it will hold its first wedding.
And the Dykstra's show no signs of slowing down. Kirsti finds the experience of coming to the resort of the utmost importance. And that experience, she said, should include exploring what surrounds Fuller's. Kirsti will point visitors in the direction of area businesses and attractions. And events held at Fuller's Resort and Campground are done big. At the corn and sausage roast the campground typically holds, Kirsti, who holds a degree in recreation, recalls how she filled the tables with more than just the main dishes, but added endless bowls of fruit and homemade brownies and fresh flowers.
"We're just trying to keep this place going … so people can keep coming back with their kids and their grandkids," she said. And, she added the grounds "just need to be preserved."
What she seems to be preserving is not only the exteriors of the grounds -but the soul. For as the pictures on the wall show visitors from back in the camp's younger days diving into the lake's waters – they continue to do so on that very afternoon.
And if they Dykstra's have anything to say about it – families will continue to come to Fuller's Resort and Campground at Clear Lake, to remember everything it stands for – so long as blue moon ice cream stains the skin and strangers become friends.