BISMARCK, N.D. (KXNET) — With the three-day weekend finally here, it’s probably safe to say that there’s a lot of happy campers out there. We visited with area campsites, as well as campers, to see how things are looking for this Memorial Day weekend.

So far, early birds to the campsites are finding warm temps and windy weather before Memorial Day. And that blustering wind isn’t stopping campers this Memorial Day weekend.

Local campgrounds are packed to the brim. The holiday, and the warm weather, are bringing campers out by the dozens. One local campsite, Hillcrest Acres RV Park, shared their experience with the Memorial Day rush.

They say that Memorial Day weekend kicks off camping season for them, and despite a slow start to the season with the late snowfall, the holiday has the park full, and they are optimistic for a stellar season.

Tammy Seiler-Oster, the campground host at Harmon Lake, says many of their campers are here to celebrate more than just one occasion. She says, “It’s a mixture with graduation weekend, and stuff like that, people being on the road, it’s amazing that some people have some family here, so they brought the campers to do family time along with Memorial weekend and graduation.”

For Elmont resident Charlene Erhardt, camping on Memorial Day weekend is a family tradition five years in the running.

Erhardt says, “Yeah there’s about 5 to 6 campers that come out, we’re all retired in the campers, but our grandkids and kids come.” She says it’s quite an adventure to get all the family together, but it’s an adventure that they enjoy quite a lot.

In addition to visitors coming from far away for graduation and family time, there are several at General Sibley Campground who are fairly local.

The campground’s specialist, Martha Willand, says, “Generally we have you know perhaps 50-60 percent of the people live in the Bis-Man area. Otherwise, we get a lot of folks from Minot, Dickinson, a few from Williston, a few Canadians, you know, we saw a little break in our Canadian attendance there with covid, but for the most part, I’d say 75% are from North Dakota.”

Despite there being such a local draw to campsites like Sibley, there are a few people who do make quite the trek during this holiday season… there are campers at both Harmon Lake and Sibley… all the way from Washington state.

If you haven’t made your way over to a campsite yet, Erhardt has a message for you, “Come and enjoy.”