About Fairwinds
Fairwinds Family Camp is a week-long camp experience for families with a child(ren) who identifies as trans, non-binary, genderqueer, genderless, or otherwise gender expansive. Parents/guardians, siblings, grandparents, and friends are all welcome to join in the fun. Fairwinds provides lodging, food, and lots of activities.
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Families join together for meals. In the mornings, adults can opt into groups that focus on discussing different topics regarding their children's journeys while all kids are off playing with our awesome staff. In the afternoons, there is time for families to spend together at the lake, field, archery range, walking in the woods, and much more!
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​Families stay together in brand new private cabins made up of two bedrooms and a full bathroom. Some smaller families may opt to share cabins. See accommodations for more information.
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Fairwinds will have its inaugural summer in 2023. We are currently building the family cabins on our beautiful property.
What's in a Name?
"Fair winds" is a nautical term describing winds that help push a vessel in the direction it wants to go. We want our campers to feel like our camp community gives them the fair winds needed on their journey. The phrase "May you have fair winds and following seas" is sometimes said when a sailor sets out on a voyage.
Facility & Location
Fairwinds is located on a 65-acre property in the beautiful Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine, with an 700-foot beach on a large, quiet, pristine lake.
Our exact location/address is accessible for registered campers only, for the privacy of all of our campers.
We are just 20 minutes from the conveniences of Augusta, the capital of Maine. Driving time from Boston is approximately 3 hours and from New York City it is 6 hours. The closest major airport is Portland International Jetport (PWM), 1 hour and 15 minutes from camp.
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The relaxing beachfront at Fairwinds.
Founder & Director
Nick Teich, PhD, LCSW is the founder, owner, and director of Fairwinds Family Camp. He chose a beautiful lakefront former family resort in Maine to be the site of Fairwinds, and he is excited to share it with so many families. Nick also owns Fairwinds Consulting, LLC, which runs groups and consults for parents.
After being told he could not return to a volunteer summer camp because of his gender, Nick founded Camp Aranu'tiq/Harbor Camps in 2009, the world's first summer camp for trans & non-binary youth. He spent 13 years as the director and CEO, during which time the camps served thousands of kids at its home in New Hampshire and beyond. In 2013 he added family camp long weekends to Camp Aranu'tiq, and has loved doing them ever since. He is thrilled to have the chance to continue the family camp excitement at Fairwinds.
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Prior to founding Harbor Camps, Nick was a camp leadership team member and counselor at the camp he attended as a child in Southern Maine. Nick has spent every summer at camp since 1993, in one form or another. He is on the board of directors of the American Camp Association - New England. Nick holds a masters degree in social work from Boston College and a PhD in social policy from Brandeis University. During the "off-season," he lives in the Boston, Mass. area with his wife, Erika, and their children, Rebecca and Brooke.
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Feel free to reach out:
Explore Maine
If you're lucky enough to have time before or after coming to Fairwinds, we recommend getting out to enjoy the beautiful oceanfront towns, lakes, mountains, lighthouses, and delicious food that make Maine famous. From the queer-friendly beach town of Ogunquit to the incredible rocky vistas of Acadia National Park to the summit of Mt. Katahdin (the end--or beginning--of the Appalachian Trail), you'll see it's clear why Maine is known as "Vacationland!" Click to go to visitmaine.com.
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The Portland Head Light