Compiled by Louis Levin
If you’ve attended a Camp reunion over the past dozens of years, you’ve seen a picture of the camp staff, and heard a camp director remark about their incredible impact. The smiling staff flash onto the screen, and the camp director pulls out one of my favorite line’s: “If you took these amazing individuals to a parking lot in Highland Park, Illinois, they’d be able to run a great summer camp!” I said it myself at more than a few reunions last winter.
Well, last week, we tried it out. This winter, on top of our normal reunion schedule, we’ve added a couple new events in the early fall to reconnect right at the start of the offseason. Last week, we hosted “Wannado in the City,” an afternoon of Camp classics at a park on the North Side of Chicago. Would it work? Would a few current and veteran staff be able to put on an afternoon of summer camp, away from the beauty of the Northwoods and the facilities of Camp? Of course it worked!
We spread the word through our Chicago camp family and were thrilled to host a big group of campers for Wannado. The afternoon was filled with Camp classics: four square, of course, as well as a nature walk through the forest preserve, wiffleball, Voyageur Rendezvous, and lots of euchre. There was even G-Snack and a birthday celebration for one of our campers, complete with a rousing Han Skal Leve and cupcakes. It really felt like a little slice of Nebagamon transported to the city… particularly when the games ended and campers got to run around with their buddies, inventing new games with the equipment on hand.
Parents and campers alike loved the afternoon, and were excited to engage in games like this again. Afterward as our counselors were lingering, helping clean up, one of them remarked about the old reunion slideshow line. It was remarkable that the idea hadn’t occurred to us before the event. It wasn’t the chalked four square court, or the scooby snacks… it’s the people. It’s the campers that, when it started to drizzle a little bit, didn’t pack up or complain, but kept the games going. It’s the parents who see the value in the camp connections and find time in what is surely a busy Saturday schedule to keep their campers plugged in with their friends. And it is, of course, our staff, who on their own time want to show up and make the magic happen.
So while camp works on the shores of Lake Nebagamon, among the pines, on the pickleball courts, and in the cabins, it also works in a parking lot in Highland Park, a city park in Chicago, or a living room in your hometown (where we’ll be visiting very, very soon). It works because of the people who fill those spaces, at Camp and around the country. Come join us on the reunion tour this winter, to reconnect with those people, to get a little taste of camp, and to keep the fires burning!
We’ve got another new event this upcoming weekend in Denver – Hill Games at Red Rocks, and then our reunion tour as usual kicks off next week in Minneapolis. We’ve added more dates and RSVP information to our website here – we can’t wait to see you soon!
If you have news you’d like to share with the Camp Family, fill out the form here or send it along to my inbox at louis@campnebagamon.com and we’ll share it in a future Arrowhead!
Throck 1971 – Tom Arenberg, Eddie Levin, Bob Wegusen, Guy Sachs, Bob Chukerman, Jon Coleman, Tom Garfinkle, front Paul Guggenheim
IT MAY INTEREST YOU TO KNOW… The cabinmates of Throck 1971 gathered for a reunion this summer in St. Louis!
BAR MITZVAH CONGRATULATIONS GO TO… Jasper Teuscher (New York).
WEDDING CONGRATULATIONS GO TO… Jason Hirschhorn (LA, Hannover NH, 2000-’02, ’08-’13, ’15, ’18-’19, ’22, ’24) and Emma Templeton, and Danny Koretz (Austin, TX, 2007-’12, ’14-’16) and Brooke Rappaport.
IN THE BIBS AND DIAPERS DEPARTMENT… It’s a girl, Maxine, for Maggie Horvath (St. Paul/Boston ’10-’11,’15) and Alex Stone. It’s a boy, Jasper Bernard Stein-Kaplan, for Elena Stein (Boston, ’10-’11, ’14) and Max Kaplan. It’s a girl, Maya Katzman Cohen, for Andy Cohen (St. Louis, 2004-’10, ’12-’15, ’17, ’19-’21) and Julia Katzman. It’s a boy, Bennett Joseph Alpert, for Alex Alpert (Memphis, 2006-’17, ’12-’13) and Sarah Alpert.
[Correction – an earlier version of News of the Camp Family incorrectly mixed up some cousins — Bennett is Alex Alpert’s new son, not Max’s!]