Badlands Ministries invites the public to come on out and celebrate a $3.3 million investment in its future.

A celebration starting at 10 a.m. Saturday is the culmination of six years of work and fundraising to move the faith-based youth camp from its old location to a generously shaded spread on the Little Missouri River south of Medora.

The day will be for taking a breath to acknowledge all that's been done to get ready for the first campers who'll start arriving June 8, said camp director Brent Seaks.

The camp has undergone massive changes in the six years since Badlands Ministries agreed to a site swap with the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation.

The swap gave the foundation room for a new golf course and other development and Badlands Ministries got three times more land in a far more scenic, private location just down the road.

The swap also meant the camp had to be moved.

A new dining facility has been constructed, a historic white steepled church has been moved into the camp, staff cabins have been relocated from the old site to the new one and a series of tent platforms to accommodate canvas bunkhouses for campers are done. Even the newly planted grass is greening up.

Whew! is how Seaks feels about progress so far.

"It looks good and we'll be all dressed up for Saturday," he said.

The event also coincides with the ELC-supported camp's 80th anniversary, hailing back to days when local ranches were used for the camp until 1945, when it was permanently located.

A 1930s era log lodge, replete with a walk-in scale fireplace, remains at the old camp site. Seaks said the foundation extended the deadline to vacate the old camp to give Badlands Ministries a few more months to move the historic lodge.

Saturday's events will begin with decommissioning the old camp and then will move to the new site, just down the road, for ribbon cutting and blessings in the dining hall.

There'll be lunch at noon and tours in the afternoon.

Seaks said it'll cost roughly another $1 million to take the camp to the next level. Then, starting with two and eventually four duplexes, the camp will be able to host retreats, conferences, family reunions and other events, like weddings in the chapel and banquets in the dining hall, all year long.

Seaks said hundreds of volunteers have helped get the camp ready, working in conjunction with Tooz Construction, the general contractor.

To get to Saturday's events at the camp, take East River Road south of Medora to Bully Pulpit Golf Course and follow signs to Badlands Ministries.