When happening upon the Eldora Ruritan Club's Handicap Camp held every year at Homeplace Park in Ararat, you never know what to expect.

Once thing people can count on, however, is that a lot of fun and a good amount of learning about life will take place.

This year's camp, the 23rd annual rendition, was no exception. With the yearly Saturday night cookout for parents, campers and counselors getting a little spice with a "womanless beauty pageant," laughter filled the canvas tents as the group, many of whom have attended the camp each year, looked like what they become after their time spent together. One big happy family.

While this extended family has a wide variety of faces, issues and voices, the experience of a weekend spent in tents and campers is enough to bring the group close together.

Bucky White has been attending the camp for 20 years, making him somewhat of an authority on its inner workings. White, who has cerebral palsy and uses a motorized wheelchair for mobility, said the main thing achieved by the camp is that it brings a relief from everyday worries and life.

"Personally I enjoy the friends and fellowship of the weekend," White said. "Forget about disabilities for a weekend. I mean we are just everyday Joe People here, we just have a different way of getting around."

White helps to oversee the Sunday morning church service after becoming an ordained minister in 2003.

"I need to have them pay me but they get it for free," White said with a laugh "I look forward to the camaraderie and getting to see everybody, because most of them I don't get to see but once a year."

Kevin Simpson, whose father, Brent, started the camp with Paul King, has overseen the event for seven years and said the purpose is to allow the campers a getaway from their parents for a weekend and the parents a vacation from their children. He said the helpers who assist the handicapped campers take away a valuable lesson from their experiences, but that the main goal still is to have fun.

"The biggest thing is, the ones helping, they realize how fortunate they really are, being able to walk and not having a disability," Simpson said. "Other than that they are just having a good time. But it is a lot of work and it is hard work."

The camp offers a wide variety of activities and is totally operated from donations and volunteered time. Activities include arts and crafts, swimming, a Friday night hayride, Saturday cookout complete with skits (such as the "womanless beauty pageant") and a band. The weekend is capped off by a Sunday morning breakfast and church service, usually followed by tearful good-byes.

Simpson said the camp's reputation has caused a demand for limited space.

"We have got a long waiting list of people wanting to come," Simpson said. "We don't have the heart to tell some of these that have been coming for a long time that they can't come next year because we have some new ones that want to come and we aren't going to, we just can't."

It is those familiar faces that makes the Eldora Handicapped Camp special. Monica Simpson, Kevin's sister, also uses a wheelchair. She has been attending the camp since its beginning and said the longer the group is together the closer they get.

"I like it because I get to see people that I don't get to see a lot," Monica Simpson said. "It's just a good time to see everybody and to get out and do things that I don't normally do."

Charles Davis has been involved with the camp since its beginning as well. He echoed Kevin Simpson's comments that the weekend is just as much about the campers as it is about offering a break from everyday life for the entire family.

"I like just to see the children have a good time and I have to say that I have as good a time as they do," Davis said. "One of the main things that we tried to do when we started is to give them a weekend that they don't usually get. When we give the kids a weekend they don't usually get, we also give the parents one as well and we have been very successful in doing that."