New dining hall going up at Pinecrest 4-H retreat

PINECREST -- Construction has started on a dining hall at Camp Sylvester, a mountain retreat for Stanislaus County 4-H members for 80 years.

A large fir fell on the old hall during a wind storm two winters ago, making it unusable. Since then, the cooks have relied on an outdoor kitchen lent by Foster Farms, but winter sessions were canceled.

The hall is expected to be done by mid-November, making year-round visits possible once more for 4-H and other users, camp manager Irene Ulm said.

"Our groups have been wonderful and very understanding with the circumstances," she said.

The Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, which owns the camp, expects to spend about $700,000 on the hall, said Wayne Zipser, executive manager of the group.

About half of that has come from donations and insurance, and the Farm Bureau got a loan for the rest, he said. Donations are being accepted.

Huff Construction Co. of Modesto is building the hall.

The replacement has taken a while because of rising costs. Farm Bureau and camp leaders considered alternatives, including closing the camp, downsizing it or forming partnerships with nearby camps. They decided to go ahead with the hall and keep the camp at full strength.

At about 4,000 square feet, the building will be about the same size as the old one, but it will have an improved kitchen and disabled access, Ulm said.

The seven-acre camp, which can accommodate up to 220 visitors, has been used by church, Scouts and other groups besides 4-H. The visitors have been eating outdoors since losing the hall, but Zipser said something clearly was missing.

"This is the mainstay of the camp," he said. "This is the central hub."

The camp is named for long-time 4-H adviser Henry Sylves-ter. It was owned by the Stanislaus and San Joaquin farm bureaus in its early years, but the Stanislaus group has been the sole owner since 1946.

The dining hall was built in the 1940s and named Chance Hall in honor of a family that was a major donor to the camp.

Ulm said the replacement already has been informally dubbed -- you guessed it -- Second Chance Hall.

To donate to the dining hall project, call the Farm Bureau at 522-7278. More information on the camp is at www.campsylvester.org.

Bee staff writer John Holland can be reached at jholland@modbee.com or 578-2385.

This story was originally published August 1, 2008 at 5:14 AM with the headline "New dining hall going up at Pinecrest 4-H retreat."