Special events included Worldwide Fellowship, which was celebrated in the first session in conjunction with the 4th of July. On Sunday at the Chapel Hill vespers and services, the series would begin. It was a day set aside for friendship and fellowship on a state and local level.
There was a traditional picnic, but the girls dressed as colonial or famous Americans, which challenged their creativity. Prizes were given for prettiest, most original and funniest. In the evening, the girls were divided into teams in preparation for International Night, which was a Tuesday. France, the Congo, the Netherlands, USA, Argentina, Mexico and Thailand were represented and each “country” dressed accordingly with tables decorated. (The Y sent blue and white placemats.) They made up a song and had an accusation from the World Court, which was similar to the Kangaroo Court. Toni then asked if the girls could share something of themselves, so a fellowship offering was taken up and it was usually the price of an ice cream or candy bar the girls were giving up and donated.
A circus was held second period and each cabin was given a special part. Clowns, acrobats, horses and riders, elephants and trainer, poodles, a circus band, lions, tigers and trainer, tightrope walker and jugglers were represented with costumes. They had Monday night to invent and create and presented their performances on Tuesday with popcorn and punch for snacks.
An Indian pow-wow, which was not ceremonial in nature and therefore not serious, was an event in the third session. On Monday the girls made their headbands and practiced their dances. Cabins one through five comprised the five nations of Mohawk, Oneida, Ononodagas, Cayuga and Seneca tribes with a short pantomime of their league found in “The Golden Book Of America.”
Cabins six through eight used tom-toms and lemme sticks for their dances, with steps from “Complete Book of Campfire Programs” by LaRue A. Thurston. Cabin nine was in charge of the firebowl at the waterfront. The caretaker Guy set up a wire guideline, tying it to cabin nine porch and staked at the end of the firebowl. Half of a burlap bag was soaked in fuel, then lit and “the flaming mass was pushed down the wire and into the laid firewood,” Toni wrote. “It went up in flames instantaneously.”
The wire was so low that the league and dance group had to circle the fire instead of going under and she hoped the wire could be removed inconspicuously during the ceremony. Cabins B and C made a teepee for the event, but the wind prevented it, and “so we left the skeleton up and said it was the remnant of Princess Maqua’a teepee.” Program director, Toni (Young) felt the program was too short, so Indian songs were sung. There was also the Princess Maqua legend, which she had suggestions to change. (Beach the canoe, with the lovers in the canoe, which would bring them closer to shore so the campers could see them better.)
Cabin day was each full Saturday of each session and each cabin planned its own activity. There was a form filled out by the counselor with an indication of time, hour by hour, which had to be in Friday by noon. (Toni felt it should be earlier, in order to coordinate plans and substitutions.) The girls could cook breakfast out or eat in the lodge at 9:00. Even the boats, canoes and sports equipment were available or trips to Hale, Hale Park, Long Lake, Iargo Springs, Lumberman’s Monument, or Tawas State Park.
There were three units and each was made up of four cabins. Cabins one, two and three and four were Unit One. Cabins five, six, seven and eight were Unit Two and cabins nine, A,B and C were Unit Three. The four counselors and cabins in the unit worked together until they agreed upon an activity, a form was filled out stating what area, equipment and snacks would be required. If more than one group wanted the firebowl, adjustments were made.
There were scrub dips, treasure hunts and record parties (which Toni Young considered ‘un-campy”). “The girls can play records and dance the other fifty weeks of the year without doing it at camp, “she wrote. “I think they should do something different, challenging and worthwhile during their brief stay at camp.”
Were you part of any Indian Pow-wows while at camp?