125th year campfire

Below are photos taken at the campfire we held for the entire camp (huge number of people at one campfire!) to celebrate 125 years of Y camping - a week ago today. Camps around the country celebrated this milestone and we chose July 14 to do it. Seemed like a good day - for one thing, our Wawayanda director, Dan Weir, had his birthday on that day. Twenty-nine, not 125. But whatever. We seriously contemplated an Order of the Oar ceremony, tossing Dan in the air 125 times, since he embodies Wawayanda currently. But we stuck with 29 and he was seasick enough from that. But back to the campfire. It was beautifully and meaningfully hosted by Jeff Daly, who was so good as introducer and leader that by the end--improvisationally--he laid down on his back on the ground, facing the lake - that is, lying down and facing in the same direction as all of the campers and staff and (using a mic) talked us through the wonder of the stars. "Each of us has his or her camp star, the star you wish on when you're a camper. Let's all find a star. I've found mine. Now look at this star. Make a camp wish..." etc. Marvelous. Complete silence. Hundreds of kids, in the utter darkness (or almost dark--the campfire had burned down quite a bit). Earlier highlights: Bud Cox, atop a ladder (with director-spotters), doing a grand, loud and crazy rendition of "Lion Hunt." (Bud began by telling the history of the founding of Wawayanda (and the split-off when Wawayanda and Dudley went separate ways) and had been introduced as someone who'd been a 10-year-old camper in 1954 and was present in the Andover NJ dining hall when Charles Scott suffered his fatal heart attack.) Bob Eddings reprised his "Singing in the Rain." I led an old-time camp song - "Green Grass Growing All Around" and led the old Wawayanda cheer (W - a - w - a [pause] y - a - EN-dee-ay) with everyone holding up double-victory fingers to form W's. In the end two thirds of the "Assorted Favorites" harmonizing trio (Chris Harper and Lexi Cariello) and I sang a three-part "Four Strong Winds." Lexi, feeling very emotional, lost harmony-consciousness and sang melody on the last chorus, but it was all the more gorgeous for that. Thanke you, Lexi, for feeling all this so deeply. And thanks, Jeff, more for the camp star even than for the Jeffburger.