01/06/2026
Dear Silver Springs Campers,
I hope this letter finds you well and you are having a happy new year! My name is Eric Kline and yesterday I became the proud owner of Silver Springs Campground.
I want to let you know I appreciate how important this campground is to you and your families. I will never forget the first time I entered the gate and went down that long, winding paved road by the woods, rounded the corner and looked out onto one of the prettiest campgrounds I’ve ever seen. And the amazing thing is I’ve felt that way each and every time I’ve pulled in since.
Becky and Mike, and Crystal before them, built an incredible place where thousands of families have come to create some of the most special moments of their lives; moments that hundreds of you have acknowledged since their announcement yesterday, and millions of families elsewhere would envy to have experienced. My goal is to make sure you continue to feel that this year and every year to follow. In other words, I don’t want to mess up a good thing. That is my word to you.
I own three other amazing family-oriented campgrounds: Two Rivers Campground in Royalton, MN; the Traverse City KOA in (you guessed it) Traverse City, MI; and Wilderness Campground in Montello, WI. Maybe you’ve heard of that last one. This year, my wife, Stewart, and I decided to give this company a name called Starlight Campgrounds (starlightcampgrounds.com).
We are not the same thing as a family that lives at and operates a single campground; and we are not the same thing as a corporation that owns a dozen (or multiple dozens) of parks across the country.
What we are is a tight knit team that has really focused on Upper Midwest family campgrounds and are building a family of managers and employees that really care about creating a great place to work as an employee and camp as a guest.
At each of these campgrounds, my team and I have worked to maintain the legacy of their previous owners and continue to build on it. Most people don’t like change. I certainly don’t. And yet if we look back five, ten, twenty years, we should be astonished how different the present we adore has become. One thing I know is that the previous owners of Silver Springs did not shy away from building.
I want to introduce two members of my team you’ll get the opportunity to meet very soon: J and Donna Nault. They will be the general managers of Silver Springs the coming year and have been by my side the last four years. Before that, they were award winning campground managers elsewhere. While it’s not in his job description, if you ever have an issue with your camper, J can probably help you out. And if you have a concern, I promise that Donna will listen to you and address it.
The most important thing I can ask for you at this moment is to please fill out this camper survey (https://forms.gle/ceosRVrE9tde1PQ98). Your input is incredibly important to understanding what you love about this campground and where we should invest to make your experience even better. It could be big stuff like “I want a water park!” (probably not happening!, but dare to dream, kids!) or as little as “I’d love an extra bench at the playground.”
Change is always tough, but we’re going to proceed on the assumption that you love the campground and want to take good care of the community. We do too.
With that all said, I just want to ask that you give us a chance. There will be old faces and new on the team this coming season. We look forward to meeting you this year. If you have any questions, suggestions, or just want to say hello, please let us know in the survey! Enjoy the rest of your offseason!
Warmly,
Eric
PS A quick housekeeping item. Your reservations are being held on the same terms that you made them. You do not need to do anything to confirm them. You can continue to book on the website as you would previously and we will receive your bookings and payments. In a few weeks we will flip to our preferred reservation system, Campspot, and will send out new invoice links you can use to pay off your balance when they come due.
