Editor’s note: This is the third in a three-part series of stories about rural innovation in Iowa. See the first story about food carts here and the second story about Native Prairie Bison here.
Stephanie Bias was studying event management at Iowa State University when her mom first came up with a big idea: Open an event venue and campground in rural Illinois.
At the time, her mom already owned another business – Ficek Electric & Communication Systems, Inc., a full-service electrical, low voltage, security contractor.
“When she first came up with the idea, I had been living in Iowa, and I was like, ‘What are you talking about? You already have a business. You don’t need another one,’” Bias said. But at the time, I had event management as my major at ISU, because I wanted to work with food festivals and do things like Taste of Chicago, different events like that, so I always joke that she said she wanted to open a venue to get me to move back home.”
Which is exactly what Bias did. She graduated from ISU in 2020, the same year the approximately 100-acre Camp Aramoni opened in Tonica, Ill., near Starved Rock State Park. She is now general manager of the operation, which includes a boutique campground and event venue.
Bias’ parents purchased the property that would become Camp Aramoni in 2017 and began construction on the former brickyard.
“It was a really big, almost like Earth Day project, because there was so much garbage that had been dumped on the property, like tires and water heaters and toilets and just an accumulation of garbage from when the brickyard closed,” she said.
The brickyard closed in the ’80s and was vacant until the family purchased it in 2017, she said.
“Then right as we finished construction, COVID hit,” she said. “So we definitely struggled with the capacity limits in terms of the event venue, but down at the campground, it was almost like social distancing at its finest. You’re outside, you’re in nature, but you’re still enjoying the amenities from home, like your bed, running water, heat, air conditioning.”
Bias participated in CYstarters, an 11-week summer accelerator for ISU students or recent graduates to develop their startup or business idea.
“I never viewed myself as an entrepreneur,” she said. “I feel like the program helped me envision myself in that role, not just on the sidelines, but making key decisions.”
Judi Eyles, director of the ISU Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship and a mentor to Bias, said opening during COVID was a “rough start.”
“All of a sudden, she had planned for events and glamping. All got delayed. A story of perseverance and patience, and that was Stephanie,” Eyles said.
During COVID, Bias had to “do a complete pivot,” Eyles said.
“But in the end, having a camping thing ended up being the priority versus the event venue, because people were willing to come out in the woods and camp amongst themselves, where they weren’t willing to get together in an event,” she said.
Now, the facility has about 50 employees during peak season and a “great management team who stays with us year round,” Bias said. The campground closes in the winter, but the venue stays open year round, she said.
Camp Aramoni does about 30 weddings per year and has served 8,000 on the campground since it opened, Bias said.
Bias said the campground offers a food and beverage program, which other properties that offer “glamping,” or glamorous camping, do not.
“In the room rates, we include breakfast and dinner and everything is made to order. We have a restaurant on-site that is open just to the campers, and it’s a gated property, so it’s very private and exclusive,” she said. “We serve two meals a day, and then we do luxury picnics out in the woods with blankets and pillows and flowers.”
Camp employees also prepare s’mores for campers, lighting the fire pit for them. And the fall drink is a spiced chai martini, she said.
“We basically take all the work out of camping,” Bias said.
The weekday rates start at $500 a night for up to four people, and that includes breakfast, dinner, s’mores and firewood. And then on the weekends, it goes up to $600 a night, Bias said.
Glamping is “having somewhere comfortable to stay out in nature, and that is kind of where the industry started,” Bias said. “We use the term boutique camping, just because what we offer is a little more elevated, especially when it comes to including the meals and the s’mores and the firewood.”
Camp Aramoni has 11 tents, each about 500 square feet, where you’re able to lock the front door and there are working windows, Bias said.
“You’re going to see all the same amenities as you would see in a hotel, minus a TV and then no iron or ironing board,” she said. “You’ll have your comfortable beds with linens, you don’t need to bring your sleeping bag. And then in the full en suite restrooms, there are towels, toiletries. We have a signature scent with all of our products, and then air conditioning and heat. There is netting on all of the windows to keep critters out.”
Among the high points Bias has experienced so far, was having Camp Aramoni featured on the cover of Midwest Living in its first year. And the biggest insight she’s learned is to “invest in good employees.”
“When we first opened during COVID, it was really hard to grow the team and find people to work,” she said. “But now I feel like we’re a few years in, we have a lot of people who continue to come back every season, or in a lot of cases, they’ll come back and then they’ll bring their sister or their friend. Those employee referrals have helped us a lot to have a pretty solid team.”