Sparrow Pond Family Campground

We stayed at Sparrow Pond Family Campground for a special long-weekend to view the Total Solar Eclipse. Their normal season doesn’t open until later in April, but they opened for 5-days for people like us who wanted a good spot for the eclipse. Since the normal season hadn’t yet opened, not all amenities/facilities were open but they put on a lot of activities to make the stay fun.

THINGS I LIKED:
Easy access to Lake Erie and Presque Isle State Park
Clean and well-maintained property with lots of activities
All of the RVs appeared well-maintained without trashy-looking seasonal sites
Nice campground with friendly camping neighbors
Friendly and responsive staff interactions

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH:
The site was nice and in a great location with a view of the pond, but wasn’t level

WOULD WE COME BACK?
Absolutely, this is a nice place with plenty of things to see and do in the area

HOW I CAME UP WITH MY STAR RATING:
★★★★★ everything was perfect with no room for improvement
★★★★ this is a great place with one or more minor flaws
★★★ average in all ways — not great, not horrible
★★ major issues or poorly maintained, we wouldn’t likely come back
★ a terrible place in my opinion and I’d never return

This is a nice campground that's far enough from the city and the highway to be relatively quiet. The sites are clean and provide full hookups. Some sites are not level. Overall the park is clean and well maintained.

But on the down side, some sites are cramped and nearly on top of each other. For example, our site (122) is directly behind site 145. That site is heavily sloped toward the front, forcing the occupant to back to within 10' of our awning to get a level spot. Consequently we now have 7 or 8 loud, roudy people very close to our "front porch" who are sharing every detail of their lives (by their excessively loud conversation) with all nearby campers. The park is large enough that sites could be more widely spaced. Sites along the fishing pond are roomier, but front the main road.

On our second night, we also discovered that - though park has an impressive list of rules of conduct - they aren't effectively enforced. We were subjected to extremely loud music from a nearby rental cabin until late into the evening. And though the park claims rules are rigidly enforced, park staff took no action to quiet those quests down.

Given that this park was more expensive than other area parks, and the noise problems we encountered, this wouldn't be our first choice for a future visit.

Shady, Shady business practices!! Super Shady. They do what is called a bait and switch. They book you in a site that you request and when the time comes they "accidentally double book" and tell you that you booked second and they have to move your spot. This happened to our friend last year and they ended up canceling and we went without them. It sucked. Over the weekend we were friendly with the neighbor who was in the spot my friend was supposed to be in. We told him what happened and he said that is so weird, that happened to us last year. We thought it was weird and didn't think too much about it. So in that same camping trip last year I went to the front desk with my husband and we booked Memorial Day weekend of 2021, paid in full, and left.

Come to Feb 2021 of this year, I had enough sense to call to make sure I was paid in full for Memorial day weekend and Carrie calls me back to say " Hey you are booked on the weekend before, not Memorial day". I said Noooooo I am not. I talked to her face to face, she looked up the dates for Memorial day and booked me on that site. Carrie said that someone else was unfortunately booked on that site and she would have to move us. I said but it was your mistake. AGAIN! She moves us to another site but my husband and friends did not want to move to the other spot so I called again to cancel altogether. Instead of calling me back or emailing, they refund all but $40 hahahahah are you kidding me? You're going to charge me $40 to cancel a mistake you made?!?

The funny part is that they charged me $222 which is a holiday rate but I was booked "mistakingly on May 21 which is NOT a holiday. They lied and did the bait and switch. THE WORST BUSINESS PRACTICE EVER and want to charge me $40 for cancellation. I still haven't heard a word back but strangely the other $40 appeared refunded on my card.
What a crazy awful experience.

If you're crazy enough to book here, print EVERYTHING, the date, the charges and who you talked to before they double book and move your site to a crappier one!

This is a nice campground with about 50% permanent campers. The sites on the pond are nice, and the sites on the Ridge (where we were) have a great view. But it is NOT worth the money they charge. They keep the campground nice but the restrooms and laundry room really need some attention! We were here for a week and I know for sure the laundry room was NEVER cleaned nor was the trash emptied the entire time we were here. While we didn't use the bathrooms, we went in periodically to see if they were getting cleaned and I don't believe they were. If you are a self-contained RV and need a place while passing through or to stay a couple of days, this is fine. You are about 6 miles from town where you will find almost anything you need.