During an ordinary summer, Pam Brown said she and her family might camp at Shenango Recreation Area Campgrounds twice a month.

As most people in Mercer County, including Mrs. Brown, would probably attest, this has been no ordinary summer.

Mrs. Brown and her daughter, Stephanie, 17, were at the campground Friday, setting up the family's tent for the first time this summer, she said. The pair, along with Mrs. Brown's husband, Art, and son, Kevin, 17, were among hundreds of campers expected to take advantage of the campground's first open day in nearly a month.

"We were excited," Mrs. Brown said. "We just drove by and it was a spur of the moment thing."