1940’s

Campcraft

Published on by Kathy Baker

The first mention of campcraft was in the “Loon” 1949, from a paragraph by Kay Cochran. They learned to make boiling kettles from no.10 cans, and stoves to fry their hamburgers. Nature lore and campcraft were combined that summer with Marian Musolf in charge.

In the early sixties’, Bonnie Baker guided her campers to plan and prepare for a campout and how to use a knife. Part of their class project was to fix up Explorer’s Hill, make “doughboys” (fried dumplings) and play “Hare and the Hound”.

Other years projects, with Mary Henne (1961), included the knotting and lashing of primitive tables and washstands, trail signs with sticks and stones, and how to assemble bedrolls.

Campcraft was run by Bonnie MacDonald in 1967, and Dorthe Balaskas wrote that she had worked at a camp before, therefore she made a confident counselor and knew her specific area well. She had good ideas, despite inadequate equipment. She took on extra projects, such as the camp entrance sign and a cabin assignment in the last session.Other years projects included the knotting and lashing of  primitive tables and washstands, trail signs with sticks and stones, and how to do bedrolls.

“She made good use of the tents and primitive areas and tried to have campcraft something more than Lemme sticks. She is most interested in seeing a primitive unit tried again at Maqua and I personally feel she would avoid some of the pitfalls we fell into the three summers we had a primitive unit,’ wrote Dorthe.  There was a new shed, “which was a welcomed addition”, but new peg boards needed to be added to organize the equipment.

Cara Prieskorn remembered making the Lemme sticks during her time at camp (1966-71). “You would find the straightest stick and peel down the bark until it was smooth. We hit each other on the elbows and threw them, but I think they were actually for some of the unofficial hand clapping games. I thought it was more like advanced patty-cake.”

Anne Obey was the campcraft director in 1969. Her report from that summer detailed her lesson plans for ropecraft, firebuilding, with an emphasis on toolcraft. As a young cabin counselor, Anne recalled sitting on the lodge porch to teach the young campers how to handle a hatchet to chop down trees, whittle with jack knives and other nature experiences. “We winged it,” laughed Anne. “I had learned just being a camper, but we could pitch a rudimentary pup tent, read a compass and start a fire.”

Anne impressed Dorthe with the mature manner in which she handled her responsibilities. Aside from packing campcraft, Anne assisted in the campcraft classes, worked in Primitive and took over a cabin as a sub when needed. “I could not have asked for anyone who gave willingly and actually showed loyalty and love for Maqua and it’s campers as Anne,” wrote Dorthe.

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Water Exhibitions and Carnivals

Published on by Kathy Baker

The Niedzielski sisters wrote about the  1947 “Water Carnival”, which took place on VisItor’s Sunday in front of campers and their friends and relatives by the boathouse. The carnival was directed by Ann Theilan and judged by Beth, Peg, Ann Thomas, Dona Johnson, K.J. Carroll and Mrs. Stuart.  Each of the nine huts made a float representing a different holiday. The winner was Hut 1, with their Fourth of July representation and the girls held big firecrackers.

There was an exhibition entitled “Susie Learns to Swim” demonstrated by the red caps to show their swimming ability. The green caps had balloon races with two teams, “The object was to blow up the balloon, swim from the green to the red raft and give the balloon to the next girl. She, in turn, had to blow up the balloon and swim back to the green raft with it,” it stated.

They also had pajama races, with the girls again divided into two teams, and the girls (dressed in pajamas) had to swim to the opposite raft, take them off and give them to the next girl, which left them “torn to shreds”, but was entertaining.

The blue caps had a canoe race, where they paddled their canoes out and around the third raft and back to shore with their paddles followed by the canoes being paddled out to the third raft and brooms were used instead of paddles to race back to shore. There were also rowboat races, examples of life saving and a beautiful water ballet, led by Gerry Folkert and Julie Ford, which included different strokes and surface diving.

“O’Tools Activities” by Nan O’Tool in 1950 included a summary of a Water Pagaent, which included boating events such as paddle boats with metal platters and brooms, canoe bobbing and water fights with canoes that were swamped. There were also swimming events with a beginner’s running race, newspaper race on backs and a greased watermelon race.

A boat decorating contest with the theme “The Sound Of Music” won Debbie Pennington’s cabin the top prize in the early sixties’. Her memory included using megaphones with something white on them as mountains.

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Snipe Hunts–

Published on by Kathy Baker

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Just what is a snipe hunt? It is a wild goose chase, a fool’s errand, a practical joke, and it was a favorite game to play on the innocent campers who had no idea how this imaginary task would play out. The inexperienced camper was given instructions on how to capture a snipe, which usually involved making crazy noises, carrying a bag and a stick, and banging rocks in attempts to ferret out the snipe.

Audrey Graff (1948) and Mary Jane Keschman (1944-54) both had funny memories of snipe hunts. “We would round up a new girl and walk out to the woods and tell her we were going to bring back a ground snipe from the woods, and send it her way to catch. Poor girls,” laughed MaryJane,” what we did was just leave them there and they would wait and wait for us.”

“First the camper was given a bag or a pillow case, then taken to the woods. She was told, everyone else will scout around for the snipes,” said Barb Cruey (1956). “She was to call the snipe and it will go in her bag. Everyone then left her and waited. Eventually, the camper returned with the empty bag and was told it was a prank. I don’t remember anyone ever being upset or crying, just feeling silly and couldn’t wait to pull snipe hunting on someone else.”

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Hunts, Captures and Elves–

Published on by Kathy Baker

92e496f841cd77b903d37c58319b6865The A-Z Scavenger Hunt in 1947 utilized a paper bag, white paper and a crayon with the directions for collecting items from nature with each letter of the alphabet. (Usually q,u, x, y and z were difficult, ( “But to my amazement,”  noted the “Loon”,”Cabin B did get all of them!~ Many of the girls came up with the argument that everything came from nature in the beginning and as a biology major I agree, but for purposes here, it must be nature as we find it out of doors or on their person.”)

On Monday the juniors had a scavenger hunt and the hut winners received camp stickers. They had to find a purple sweater, ten empty bullet cartridges, a striped sock, an Eversharp pen, a snail shell, a bar of Lux soap, a piece of green Kleenex, a picture of Guy Madison (actor), a signature of someone over twenty, a four leaf clover, a flowered kerchief, a yellow flower, a nail, a piece of flowered stationary, an out of state letter, an ID bracelet, an orange pencil, and a needle and blue thread.

Every year had its own brand of activities, either dreamed up by the program/activity director, or a tradition that had been passed down through the ages. In 1950, the “Loon” noted there was a fashion show, backwards day, talent scouts, story telling, a P.J. party, and a scavenger hunt.

Geraldine McDonald camped in 1954. “There were several parties in there. I remember one where they blindfolded us and we had to stick our hands into the bag and guess what was in there. I felt slimy worms or nightcrawlers in the bag, but it was really just spaghetti. There were skits and scavenger hunts that started in the main lodge. We had to hunt for these treasures and it was all about nature. We had everything, except the lightning bug, so one of the girls put on a white shirt and we tucked a lit flashlight up her shirt!”

Judy Crissey also camped in 1954 and loved the scavenger hunts. “We had a small group and followed all the clues, all outdoors, of course. I was probably not very good at it, but ii is one of my best memories.”

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Programs and Activities 1947

Published on by Kathy Baker

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The “Loon” captured the types of activities the campers enjoyed in 1947, but the older scrapbooks had wonderful photos of young campers dressed in gauzy scarves, with fun activities from the twenties’ and thirties’.

The “Evening Program” section started out on Wednesday with games. Paired by twos and armed with slips of paper with articles written on them, the girls had to find the members of the other team with the matching article-((i.e. salt and pepper, pen and ink) The second game consisted of finding as many things in the lodge that started with the letter F. On Thursday, the seniors had a free night and the juniors played the lodge game with the letter S. On Friday, the juniors played games in the lodge while the seniors played baseball, followed by a group singsong around the piano.

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Eek! Snakes! Lizards!

Published on by Kathy Baker

220px-boa_constrictor_eques_bonte_pl04The girls either learned to have an appreciation for snakes or they left camp still hating them. Maureen Moore (1968-70) learned to appreciate snakes during her trips to the nature hut, but, some girls played with them at camp and later developed a fear, like Karen Magidsohn (1965) or Barb Krohn (1970-72), who just avoided the nature activities.

In Valerie Monto’s (1964-68) neighborhood, there were many empty lots that were not developed, filled with bees and garter snakes. “We were city kids, but not inexperienced with nature. I would pick up garter snakes by the tail and was not afraid. I remember one girl was so freaked out by even seeing them.”

Diane Dudley (1957-63) learned her lesson when she wanted to see what was down inside a log, so she stuck her hand in and came up with a snake bite, featuring three holes on her finger! Carla Wilhelm (1945-49) was taken by surprise when a garter snake bit her, because she had no idea snakes could bite!

Cindy Rose (1968-70) had a vivid memory of standing on a path at Maqua watching a snake eat a frog and that very same scene was a bad memory for Jan Mosier (1947-52). She watched a counselor feed frogs to the snakes and was horrified as the frog slithered down inside the snake’s body.

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