Camp Mystic abandons bid to reopen this summer

by Emily Foxhall, The Texas Tribune
April 30, 2026

Camp Mystic on Thursday said it has withdrawn its application for an operating license, a decision that means it will not reopen to campers this summer.

The decision follows a grueling hearing earlier this week when Texas lawmakers pushed the family that runs the camp to consider if they were truly ready to reopen after 25 campers and two counselors died there during last year’s July 4 flood, along with the camp’s executive director Dick Eastland. Family members of the girls who died also spoke passionately to the camp directors in that hearing about their loss.

Camp Mystic had planned to welcome back more than 800 girls to a portion of its property that was away from the hardest-hit areas where people died. But in its statement Thursday, the camp said it wanted to be clear that it heard and respected the concerns of grieving families and legislators.

"No administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve, while investigations continue and while so many Texans still carry the pain of last July’s tragedy," the camp said in its statement.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.