Blackhawk Valley Campground — Hotel in Cherry Valley Township

When we purchased our new camper in May of 2024, the dealer told us they were giving us “21 free nights” of camping. Shortly after, Venture Out contacted us to schedule a two-night stay at Blackhawk Valley Resort in Rockford, IL. They explained that in exchange for the free stay, we needed to attend a 2-hour meeting. Immediately, we knew this would be some sort of timeshare pitch but agreed. ||We arrived at our site on Friday evening. As we were getting settled in, a man rode up on his golf cart. He was very friendly, pet our dogs, let us know that there would be movie with popcorn after dark and that the next day there was a BBQ at his campsite up by the office. We would later discover this man to be the sales manager. We attended the movie that evening with our 8 and 10-year-old boys and found it very strange that we were the only ones there. The next morning, we got up, and our boys jumped on their bikes to explore the campground like they always do when camping while we relaxed with our coffee. Late morning, we walked around the grounds and found it very odd that it was so empty in the middle of summer (July 13) and that so many of the spots that would be reserved for seasonal campers were empty. We immediately assumed that the sales pitch would be to become a seasonal camper there. We spent some time at the “beach” and our boys swam in the river for a bit before it was time for our 2-hour meeting. While my husband and I were in the meeting, our boys spent some of the time playing board games at our campsite. By the time we got back, they were playing with another boy about their age. We would find out later in the evening that the boy’s family was from Texas and living at the campgrounds for the summer while his dad worked in IL. We listened to the sales pitch and as it turned out, Venture Out had purchased Blackhawk Valley campground the summer prior and was in the process of kicking out the seasons; some of whom had been camping there for 40 years and were trying to turn it into a private campground for members only. The sales pitch was to become a member. Although they kept telling us it was not a timeshare, it sure had the feeling of one. The entire time, the woman we met with, talked about how in California, they passed a law that anyone, even felons could reserve campsites in the public parks, and how things like this will happen in IL soon. She also talked about feeling unsafe camping in Las Vegas when she found out that people working in the area from out of town were living there as seasons and you would never find that kind of thing happening at one of their campgrounds (remember the boy and his family that was playing with my sons?) She kept telling me that a good camping trip is only good when “mamma bear” feels safe and happy. And by becoming private members, we will know that criminals and “Cousin Eddies” will not be camping next to us because they run background checks on everyone they sell a membership to. She even said that they ran background checks on the seasonals that were still at Blackhawk and they had to ask some of them to leave because they came back with records. It all left a bad taste in our mouths. We politely told them no, we were not interested in becoming members. That is when we discovered the man from the night before was the sales manager because he came in from the back and tried to hard sell us. We again said no and they drove us back to our campsite. When we got back, we gave our boys my debit card and told them to walk up to the camp store and buy some firewood. The teenage security guard drove them back to our campsite with the firewood, we thanked her and she went on her way. Fast forward about 45 minutes later. My 8-year-old was playing with the kid he had met earlier and my husband was fishing with our 10-year-old. The same security guard who had dropped off my boys and the wood came back with another woman. They handed me a piece of paper, telling me that it is a written warning. They were claiming that my boys had been in the camp store trying to steal and that they had even overheard them say they were going to steal money from me to buy wood. I explained that I had given them my debit card to buy wood, they had no need to steal. Furthermore, she had driven them to our site less than an hour earlier with the wood. Why didn’t she say anything at that time? None of it added up. They also claimed that they were harassing other campers who were trying to play bags. After they left, I walked over to the men playing bags and asked if my boys had given them trouble. They said no. Turns out they were all seasons who were being evicted from the campground. They asked if we had been told that background checks were run on everyone. I told them yes, and they said it was a lie. Background checks had not been run on anyone. They told us that the campground was so empty because most of the seasonals left because they did not want to become “members”, some were still there just for this summer trying to find alternative places to put their campers, and a few had decided to become “members”. When my husband was back from fishing, I explained to him what had happened and we walked up to the office. By this time, everyone except for the teenage security guard was still there. When we confronted her about her accusations that our boys were stealing and bothering other campers, she stammered and couldn’t give us any straight answers, telling us that the manager would be back in the morning. ||It began raining pretty hard, early Saturday evening, so we went inside and called it a night. The next morning, my boys were riding their bikes around while I was drinking my coffee outside and my husband was still sleeping. Within a short time, two men rode up to me on a golf cart, again, handed me a piece of paper, and told me it was a written warning claiming that our dogs had attacked someone. I was thoroughly confused because our dogs were tied up outside next to our camper and I was sitting there drinking coffee. I asked how that was possible when I was sitting there and never saw this happen. They then proceeded to tell me that the dogs could not be staked into the ground, they needed to be on leashes and the leashes needed to be held at all times. Keep in mind, even when these two strange men rode right up to me on a golf cart, my dogs didn’t even bark at them. I woke my husband up, telling him that I was pretty sure they were harassing us because we had said we were not interested in buying into their membership. ||I walked down to the office and spoke with the sales manager. I told him about what had happened the night before with the accusation of theft and now our dogs were being accused of attacking someone and I was told they had to be on a handheld leash at all times. I told him that I felt like they were targeting us because we had said no to the membership. After all, the day before, he had complimented us on how polite our boys were and he had come to our campsite when we first got there on Friday and pet our dogs-never mentioning that they needed to be on handheld leashes. He insisted that it wasn’t true and got the general manager. I told him the whole story about how overly nice everyone was until after our 2-hour meeting where we declined membership, and not even an hour later, we were being accused of things and harassed.||We camp almost every other weekend in summer and have been all over the country camping. I can honestly say that we have never had such a miserable experience. Buyer beware when dealing with...

When we purchased our new camper in May of 2024, the dealer told us they were giving us “21 free nights” of camping. Shortly after, Venture Out contacted us to schedule a two-night stay at Blackhawk Valley Resort in Rockford, IL. They explained that in exchange for the free stay, we needed to attend a 2-hour meeting. Immediately, we knew this would be some sort of timeshare pitch but agreed. ||We arrived at our site on Friday evening. As we were getting settled in, a man rode up on his golf cart. He was very friendly, pet our dogs, let us know that there would be movie with popcorn after dark and that the next day there was a BBQ at his campsite up by the office. We would later discover this man to be the sales manager. We attended the movie that evening with our 8 and 10-year-old boys and found it very strange that we were the only ones there. The next morning, we got up, and our boys jumped on their bikes to explore the campground like they always do when camping while we relaxed with our coffee. Late morning, we walked around the grounds and found it very odd that it was so empty in the middle of summer (July 13) and that so many of the spots that would be reserved for seasonal campers were empty. We immediately assumed that the sales pitch would be to become a seasonal camper there. We spent some time at the “beach” and our boys swam in the river for a bit before it was time for our 2-hour meeting. While my husband and I were in the meeting, our boys spent some of the time playing board games at our campsite. By the time we got back, they were playing with another boy about their age. We would find out later in the evening that the boy’s family was from Texas and living at the campgrounds for the summer while his dad worked in IL. We listened to the sales pitch and as it turned out, Venture Out had purchased Blackhawk Valley campground the summer prior and was in the process of kicking out the seasons; some of whom had been camping there for 40 years and were trying to turn it into a private campground for members only. The sales pitch was to become a member. Although they kept telling us it was not a timeshare, it sure had the feeling of one. The entire time, the woman we met with, talked about how in California, they passed a law that anyone, even felons could reserve campsites in the public parks, and how things like this will happen in IL soon. She also talked about feeling unsafe camping in Las Vegas when she found out that people working in the area from out of town were living there as seasons and you would never find that kind of thing happening at one of their campgrounds (remember the boy and his family that was playing with my sons?) She kept telling me that a good camping trip is only good when “mamma bear” feels safe and happy. And by becoming private members, we will know that criminals and “Cousin Eddies” will not be camping next to us because they run background checks on everyone they sell a membership to. She even said that they ran background checks on the seasonals that were still at Blackhawk and they had to ask some of them to leave because they came back with records. It all left a bad taste in our mouths. We politely told them no, we were not interested in becoming members. That is when we discovered the man from the night before was the sales manager because he came in from the back and tried to hard sell us. We again said no and they drove us back to our campsite. When we got back, we gave our boys my debit card and told them to walk up to the camp store and buy some firewood. The teenage security guard drove them back to our campsite with the firewood, we thanked her and she went on her way. Fast forward about 45 minutes later. My 8-year-old was playing with the kid he had met earlier and my husband was fishing with our 10-year-old. The same security guard who had dropped off my boys and the wood came back with another woman. They handed me a piece of paper, telling me that it is a written warning. They were claiming that my boys had been in the camp store trying to steal and that they had even overheard them say they were going to steal money from me to buy wood. I explained that I had given them my debit card to buy wood, they had no need to steal. Furthermore, she had driven them to our site less than an hour earlier with the wood. Why didn’t she say anything at that time? None of it added up. They also claimed that they were harassing other campers who were trying to play bags. After they left, I walked over to the men playing bags and asked if my boys had given them trouble. They said no. Turns out they were all seasons who were being evicted from the campground. They asked if we had been told that background checks were run on everyone. I told them yes, and they said it was a lie. Background checks had not been run on anyone. They told us that the campground was so empty because most of the seasonals left because they did not want to become “members”, some were still there just for this summer trying to find alternative places to put their campers, and a few had decided to become “members”. When my husband was back from fishing, I explained to him what had happened and we walked up to the office. By this time, everyone except for the teenage security guard was still there. When we confronted her about her accusations that our boys were stealing and bothering other campers, she stammered and couldn’t give us any straight answers, telling us that the manager would be back in the morning. ||It began raining pretty hard, early Saturday evening, so we went inside and called it a night. The next morning, my boys were riding their bikes around while I was drinking my coffee outside and my husband was still sleeping. Within a short time, two men rode up to me on a golf cart, again, handed me a piece of paper, and told me it was a written warning claiming that our dogs had attacked someone. I was thoroughly confused because our dogs were tied up outside next to our camper and I was sitting there drinking coffee. I asked how that was possible when I was sitting there and never saw this happen. They then proceeded to tell me that the dogs could not be staked into the ground, they needed to be on leashes and the leashes needed to be held at all times. Keep in mind, even when these two strange men rode right up to me on a golf cart, my dogs didn’t even bark at them. I woke my husband up, telling him that I was pretty sure they were harassing us because we had said we were not interested in buying into their membership. ||I walked down to the office and spoke with the sales manager. I told him about what had happened the night before with the accusation of theft and now our dogs were being accused of attacking someone and I was told they had to be on a handheld leash at all times. I told him that I felt like they were targeting us because we had said no to the membership. After all, the day before, he had complimented us on how polite our boys were and he had come to our campsite when we first got there on Friday and pet our dogs-never mentioning that they needed to be on handheld leashes. He insisted that it wasn’t true and got the general manager. I told him the whole story about how overly nice everyone was until after our 2-hour meeting where we declined membership, and not even an hour later, we were being accused of things and harassed.||We camp almost every other weekend in summer and have been all over the country camping. I can honestly say that we have never had such a miserable experience. Buyer beware when dealing with...

We have been coming to this campground for 4 years now. We never had a problem with the staff. They were always polite but just over the weekend, a staff member came to our campground Saturday morning and was very rude talking to us saying that we were very loud and cursing without even validating to us if it was really our group. We never even had the chance to explained our side because we were left shocked at how he approached us. We were just talking in our dialect while having the bonfire with low music. So we went to the office and confront this staff with his rudeness and told him how will the seasonal RV campers and the tent ones know that we where cursing when we were talking in our dialect. Very interesting complains. In short this is not a good campground to come back anymore because seasonal RV campers which are mostly older people easily gets annoyed with just conversation. Quite time.is 10:00 pm and we understand that but do we have to whisper and just stare at each other while we are having a bonfire. It is a campground after all. We can still talk, laugh and have a little fun. They have to understand that the campground is not only for seasonal campers but also for weekenders just wanting to relax and unwind. People and your customers react to complaints depending how the person delivers it .......the staff did apologize after he was confronted but that was after the fact.....so better customer service next time to keep all your loyal campers from coming back...it's sad because you have good amenities, perfect campground but your reputation was just tarnish by one staff that was rude because he woke up on the other side...