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Like one of those languid summer nights of yesteryear at Camp Montvale -- when s'mores were the last snacks of the day enjoyed around dimming coals of the campfire -- efforts to save the camp seemed to fade into darkness.

Not much water cooler conversation this summer about the camp reopening. Camp chats were more about memories of craft-making and canoeing and bug juice.

But serious talks are ongoing about the future of Camp Montvale. There is renewed momentum to reopen the facility that the Knoxville Branch of the YMCA closed in 2006. The YMCA had operated the camp in the shadow of Chilhowee Mountain since 1948.

Like clearing a path through rhododendron, reopening the camp has proven a struggle. Supporters faced fits and starts over the past four years -- largely due to the economy's doldrums.

Bryan Roberson, executive director of Friends of Camp Montvale, never imagined the 400-plus-acre camp would not be up and running by this past summer. The Friends group had hoped to have it open by 2007.

A path is being cleared through the financial wilderness. A couple weeks ago, Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Springhouse News appeared on the Friends of Camp Montvale Web site: www.campmontvale.org. The online newsletter gives an update on progress being made and challenges ahead.

The best news from Roberson is that the economy did not stymie the camp project. It could have. There had been concern about the Harmony Property Group LLC's ability to complete the purchase of the camp and place it under conservation easements.

The group had purchased 281 acres adjacent to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and near the camp for a planned residential development called the Overlook at Montvale.

Harmony Property Group spent $4 million to purchase Camp Montvale, borrowing $3.4 million of the total. Proceeds from the Overlook were to be used to finance the camp purchase. The real estate market did not cooperate. To protect plans to put the camp property under conservation easements, Camp Montvale was split from the residential project with cooperation of the developers.

The camp ownership entity is now called Harmony LLC, a name like the development company's title so that conservation easements can be established. Renaming the camp ownership would require a year's delay in pursuing the easements. The goal is to place the majority of the camp property in an easement with the Foothills Land Conservancy to prohibit further development.

All that would have been immaterial if Knoxville auctioneer and Mercedes-Benz dealer Sam Furrow -- a former Camp Montvale camper -- had not stepped forward in 2008. He assumed interest payments on the Harmony Property Group's debt on the camp. Rick Hinchey, CEO of Furrow Services LLC, is directing efforts to acquire ownership interest in the entity that owns the Camp Montvale property so it can be placed in easements.

In October, Friends of Camp Montvale will complete interviews with community leaders and camp supporters in Blount and Knox counties as part of a feasibility study to plot the camp's future.

Friends of Camp Montvale will explore opportunities to make the property available to other nonprofits -- Little River Watershed Association, for example -- so this special community resource can be used for environmental education.

A reaffiliation with the YMCA is also in the works. The Friends brought in consultants from YMCA of the USA to check out the facilities. That could result in a YMCA affiliation with Camp Montvale that would be independent of the Knoxville Y.

Regardless of how soon a YMCA link can be re-established, Friends of Camp Montvale is still working to reopen the camp as a traditional, coed, residential service.

Hopefully, it won't take four more years to make sure bug juice and s'mores are again daily summer fare at this treasure in the heart of Blount County.

To help, contact Friends of Camp Montvale by mail at Camp Montvale, 201 S. Washington St., Maryville, TN 37804; by phone at (865) 980-6434; or by Internet at info@campmontvale.org.