Fishing, wine, and conversation are the hallmarks of this annual event held at Leen’s Lodge in Grand Lake Stream, Maine, one of the state’s most remote venues (www.leenslodge.com). In recent years, craft beer has also made a prominent appearance, many brewed locally in Maine further making a positive economic impact on the area's communities.

Here, attendees spend a long August weekend fishing on some of the most pristine lakes in the country; a place to breathe deeply, feel the earth, and replenish the mind with intellectual and stimulating conversation. Vigorous debates are regular and run the gamut from market valuations and the rise of exchange-traded funds to Federal Reserve policy, virtual currencies, and health care. It’s easy to see why some even in the financial press refer to Camp Kotok as the “Shadow Fed.”

Attendees are bound to “Chatham House Rules” (participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed). General thoughts, ideas, forecasts and comments, however, can and are discussed and published outside of CK with implicit permission. Cumberland Advisors has published a series of videos and written interviews with campers desiring to go on the record.

This annual gathering broadened in 2002, after David Kotok invited several other September 11, 2001 “survivors” to spend the weekend reflecting on the one-year anniversary of the attacks. Many of the original Camp Kotok attendees had escaped from the World Trade Center and surrounding buildings, and lost friends on that fateful day. Those who attended that year decided to go back the following year… and so on. 

Now, these weekends in Maine have become a staple for those “in the know” in the financial industry. Please see Sharon Prizant's thoughts on "What is Camp Kotok???" here where she brings her observations through many years of attendance into a thoughtful synopsis: https://www.cumber.com/camp-kotok/what-camp-kotok