By Sarah Stultz. A pond was created at Happy Time Resort where people can catch-and-release fish, swim or hangout on the beach surrounding the pond. There is an indoor bar area off of a patio area at Happy Time Resort.
Campers get their own outdoor area where they can set up patio furniture or flowers. Happy Time staff mow the grass, and there's a staff member who is a master gardener and can be hired by campers to take care of their flowers. An outdoor patio area is sheltered to beat the heat at Happy Time Resort. Happy Time Resort has an indoor bar area with a stage where bands frequently perform during the summer.
Showers are available for those who don't want to make their campers humid from using them. When Happy Time Resort opened 10 years ago northeast of Lake Mills, owners Samantha and Rodney Hagen were looking for a way to be with their children more. At the time they had three children, and had previously owned a business in Lake Mills that required them to be away from home more than they wanted. Samantha Hagen said Diamond Jo Casino had recently been constructed, and they thought a campground would complement that well.
They started building in on 20 of their 60 acres of land and transformed what once was a cornfield and hog house into a family-oriented RV campground with a 5-acre pond, sand beach, playground, bar and hook-up sites. She said her children were a little skeptical at first of sharing their backyard with strangers, but those feelings quickly changed.
The campground started with 35 sites, and they hoped to reach 50 sites in five years. It has grown faster than they anticipated to where it now has sites, with a majority of those being for seasonal campers and about a dozen being for weekend campers with electric, water and sewer hookups provided for all sites.
