The Albert Lea/Austin KOA Campground, located at 84259 County Road 46 in Hayward, is offering a free night of camping on Saturday, May 14 to all campers who stay at the campground as paying guests on Friday, May 13 at part of KOA’s eighth annual Come Kamp & Care With Us weekend.

Thousands of North American camping families will be headed to their favorite Kampgrounds of America locations for this very special weekend, the official start of the 2011 summer camping season.

Last year, more than 25,000 camping families stayed at nearly 400 participating KOA campgrounds in the U.S. and Canada.

“This event is a wonderful way for our campers to start their summer camping seasons, and at the same time help raise money to send these very special kids to great summer camps,” said KOA CEO Jim Rogers. “This event has proven to be extremely popular with both our KOA franchise owners and their campers, and we’re happy to offer it again this year.”

Campers can to go to www.KOA.com to see a list of participating campgrounds and make their reservations. Some campgrounds will be offering their kabins and luxury Lodges for the event, so campers are encouraged to not wait to make their reservations.