Pretty Lake Camp, Adventure Centre, and Farm is located in beautiful Mattawan, MI. For over 100 years we have provided a cost-free summer camp experience to youth from Kalamazoo County while our Adventure Centre challenges individuals, teams, and organizations to expand their self-confidence, trust, and leadership skills through a variety of outdoor adventure learning activities.

Pretty Lake Camp provides life-changing experiences through free summer camp and experiential learning.

Experiences at Pretty Lake build stronger communities and a more just, inclusive, and compassionate world.

We are committed to strengthening ourselves as the “community’s camp” – a year-round resource for our campers, families,  schools, retreat guests and the community at large. True to our founder, Edward B. Desenberg, the core of the organization will be the on-going operation and continuous improvement of all of our programs.

• Community Focused Service – We remain a Kalamazoo-focused, youth-serving organization.
• Innovative Discovery – We passionately build a place of exploration, thoughtful risk-taking, and discovery for all participants.
• Responsible Stewardship – We act as responsible stewards who care for our physical, financial, and human resources.
• Principled Leadership – We are committed to upholding the highest moral principles to best serve others with integrity, honesty, and respect.
• Authentic Dialogue – We respect open, humble, and sincere two-way communication.

Inclusion is about the actions we take each day.  Our culture is the result of our behaviors, our personal commitment, our curiosity, how we collaborate, and the ways we courageously share our perspectives and encourage others to do the same.  Pretty Lake Camp is committed to providing a welcoming and equitable environment with opportunities for engagement regardless of an individual’s ability, age, appearance, ethnicity, gender identity, geographical location, national origin, professional level, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.

Our History

Founder of Pretty Lake Camp, Local Musician and Philanthropist

Born in Kalamazoo on September 9, 1867, Edward ‘Eddie’ Desenberg became an accomplished pianist, and studied abroad for number of years before settling back home in Kalamazoo.  Besides music and the arts, Eddie’s compassion was for children, especially those less fortunate. In 1916, Eddie founded Pretty Lake Vacation Camp, a place that he hoped would help make life a little better for the children of Kalamazoo. This was to be his lasting legacy.

Today over 50,000 children have had the opportunity to attend Pretty Lake Camp. We are proud to be a part of Pretty Lake, and honor the commitment Edward Desenberg made to the children of Kalamazoo 109 years ago, to provide a totally cost free camp for children who could benefit the most from the experience.

Our Member Organizations

The generous contributions and tireless commitment of our entire community have made free camp possible for over a century of summers.

In particular, the Kiwanis Club of Kalamazoo and the Junior League of Kalamazoo took over camp in 1930 and ran it for many years. Kiwanians, Junior Leaguers, and many others in our community cleaned out cabins, secured food and supplies, and together made camp possible.

Today, Kiwanis and the Junior League continue to devote vital time and support to ensure our summer camp remains totally cost-free, just as it was when Edward Desenberg started Pretty Lake a century ago.