Modernizing a 75-Year-Old Legacy for the Digital Age
The Mission: Streamline a complex multi-service retreat centre without losing the “heart” of its faith-based community.
About Camp Arnes
Since 1949, Camp Arnes has been a cornerstone of the Manitoba outdoors, situated on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg. As a premier Christian camp and retreat centre, they serve thousands of visitors annually through three distinct pillars:
- Summer Camps: High-energy residential programs for kids and youth.
- Outdoor Education: Curriculum-based day and overnight trips for Manitoba schools. With many calm and adrenaline oriented activity options.
- Retreats & Rentals: Full-service hosting for corporate, school groups, church, and community groups.
With 75 years of history and a sprawling facility, they are a Manitoba institution dedicated to “Exceptional Experiences” and spiritual growth.
The Challenge
A Giant with Too Many Moving Parts
Camp Arnes isn’t just a summer camp; it’s a year-round engine of outdoor ed, corporate retreats, and community events. Since 1949, Camp Arnes been a Manitoba staple, but their digital presence was starting to show its age. It was time for a fresh website design.
- Information Overload: Parents, school boards, and retreat planners were all landing on the same cluttered pages.
- The “Legacy” Friction: 75 years of history is great, but outdated navigation makes it hard for a busy parent to register a kid for “Stokers” or “LDP” on a lunch break.
- Conversion Gaps: The mission was clear, but the path to “Book Now” was buried under layers of text.
We re-engineered how users interact with the camp’s distinct “business units.”
Built for Resilience: Like a well-built workbench, the backend was stripped of bloat. We did a full website redesign. We focused on speed and mobile responsiveness—because a parent in a rural area with 2 bars of LTE still needs to be able to check the packing list.
The “Choose Your Adventure” Entry: We built a high-level navigation strategy that segments users immediately. Parents go left; retreat planners go right. No more digging through school band packages to find the summer camp dates.
User-Centric UX: As a kayaker and hiker myself, I know that people looking for adventure want to see it. We prioritized high-impact visuals of the Lake Winnipeg shoreline while keeping the core registration links pinned and accessible.
Our Approach
Consulting First, Pixels Second We didn’t just give them a fresh coat of paint. We redesigned the whole website.
The Results
A Website That Actually Works
Search Engine Authority: Cleaned up the technical debt and schema markup (the “bot-feeder” stuff), ensuring Camp Arnes remains the definitive answer for “Manitoba Summer Camps“
Streamlined Bookings: Reduced the “clicks-to-register” by 40%, making the process painless for both the camp office and the parents.
Clearer Brand Identity: Successfully balanced the camp’s Christian mission with a professional, adventure-forward aesthetic.
Ongoing we get to continue to help Camp Arnes and their new website through offering them hosting and one of our website maintenance plans.
“Ninja Tuna took a mountain of information and turned it into a clear, navigable path. They understood our mission and built a site that actually serves our community instead of just sitting there looking pretty.”
Does your non-profit need a new website to help stand out?
If your current site feels outdated, confusing, or doesn’t reflect the quality of care you provide, it might be time for a rethink.