Calling all eligible campers! Before the age of television, computers and cellphones, publicizing a camp was never a simple task. It was up to word of mouth of contented campers and the printed word.
The musty ledgers and minutes left behind in the Bay City YWCA accumulation of” all things Maqua” contained beautifully hand scripted paragraphs of the meetings held by the camp committees. Buried deep in the vaults of the building for years in boxes, were photos, and articles, untouched and unsorted, waiting to be unearthed and compiled from their loose and glued state in crumbling scrapbooks.
As early as 1932, these penned and typed details were the only remains of how often the committee met and who was present to plan the upcoming season for the girls of Camp Maqua.
Publicity was vitally important to the success of each summer, not only to fill the sessions, but also to hire new staff and publicize the events and happenings at camp. Pages in the scrapbooks were filled with many undated articles from several Bay City newspapers, left for guessing as to the year of publication.
Minutes and ledgers from March 16, 1932 indicated form letters and camp rally invitations to previous campers were sent out, as well as letters to faculty at Michigan colleges. Window displays with posters in downtown businesses were open to previous campers in a contest, which gained popularity with young girls.
Radio broadcasting was an important component before the era of the television, as “seven broadcasts over WBCM” were aired in 1933. Usually, this push in publicity took place in May if finances were stable, but some years other forms took a front seat, as in April of 1934, when there was an “inability to get broadcasting publicity”.
In May of 1934, “It was moved and seconded to put an ad in the Eastern Michigan Tourist’s Guide and to have a trailer made up to be shown at all the local theatres”, indicated the minutes. Ads were also placed in Ohio newspapers, as Michigan was a tourist destination. How many girls interviewed for the history must have sat in movie houses and headed to sign up for camp as a result of the black and white reel of photos from camp.
The trailer was to be shown all through June at local theatres and a few in Pontiac and Birmingham. Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman of the Regents Theatre were their willing contacts and had also volunteered to show movies at camp for the girls. In later minutes from 1937 the trailer was priced at $12.
In March 1934 minutes a suggestion was made to make appointments for speakers at school early in the fall, especially at PTA meetings. Camp folders were also placed on school bulletin boards. In later years the schools would request speakers. Once a few schoolgirls attended, word of mouth was often the best recruitment, and off they went with friends to camp.
“Cultivating committees” called on mothers whose girls may want to go to camp, open houses at the YWCA and parties for old campers and guests were held at the YWCA, circular letters and brochures, and tables of bridge with potential mothers of girls were created. Even Christmas cards to previous campers were methods employed to entice girls to camp. In 1962, letters were sent to the Oscoda Air Base to invite the daughters of airmen to camp.
How did you find out about Camp Maqua and were you ever featured in one the old newsreels or brochures to publicize camp? Did you ever participate in the poster contests?