b'KEY PEOPLE BY JEFF CRIDERFamily Connections in Campground Arena Run Deep for NCAs Cyndy ZbierskiNot every state has a campground able to spend her entire childhood liv-association, but in the states that do, the ing and working at a campground.organizations usually are led by people Zbierskiandherfamilylivedinawith deep roots in the campground in- home that was 20 minutes away fromdustry. the resort, but they lived at the camp-Cyndy Zbierski, the executive direc- ground during the busy summer sea-tor of the Northeast Campground Asso- son, from Memorial Day to Labor Day,ciation (NCA), is one salient case in and Zbierski and her siblings, Feliciapoint. andRon,workedjustabouteveryThe week I was born, my father was campgroundjobimaginableastheyhired to run a campground that was grew up.being built from the ground up, Zbier- But unlike most campgrounds, Sunski recalled. ValleyBeachClubandCampgroundThat campground, Sun Valley Beach dedicated all of its roughly 200 sites inClubandCampground inStafford the early days to seasonal campers, withSprings, Conn., is still in existence today. nositesfortransienttravelers.TheAndeventhoughZbierskisparents, campground also eventually becameDavidand Pat Tetrault, left the resort in the first park in Connecticut to turn into NCAs Executive Director Cyndy Zbierski noted that she has been seeing new people en-the late 1980s when she finished high a cooperative and sell its campsites. tering the campground space who are coming from a variety of backgrounds.school, she was fortunate to have been We also had 500 families that joinedthe campground as beach members,Zbierskiexplained,notingthatthe people who lived and worked in the Tetraultassumedmanagementofparks amenities included a 10-acre lake Northeast, Zbierski said. NCA with his wife in the fall of 1990 andand swimming lessons certified by the But even after her parents left Sun Val- together they ran the association untilAmerican Red Cross. ley Beach Club and Campground and 2014, when Zbierski took over manage-The park also served as a dealership Zbierski went off to Eastern Connecticut ment of the association after workingfor park model RVs manufactured by State University to pursue a degree in el- fortwodecadesasateacherandGoshen, Ind.-based Kropf Industries ementary childhood education, her par- owner/operator of a childcare business.Inc.Zbierski lived in a Kropf unit during ents would soon set the stage for her Zbierski said its noteworthy that NCAthe summer months so people could future career in the campground busi- has had only three leaders in more thansee how easy it was to use a park model ness, but in a different way. fivedecadesofservicetothecamp-RV as a vacation cottage. A couple of years after leaving Sun Val- ground industry. She said when her par-Stafford Springs itself was also allur- ley Beach Club and Campground, David entsdecidedtoretirefromNCA,sheing, being a town of 10,000 in the mid- Tetrault was hired as executive director jumped at the opportunity to be involvedPat and David Tetrault dle of nowhere, which is precisely what of NCA, succeeding Gerald Harrison, in the campground industry again.made it a wonderful vacation retreat for who had led the association since 1965. I enjoy being able to work with peo-22 -April 2020Woodalls Campground Management'