If you want to see what our supportive community at Camp Nebagamon looks like, just step into the Rec Hall in the middle of our camp talent show, or Good Time Charlie (GTC). Last night was our second GTC this summer, and wow, was the feeling in the Rec Hall special! Campers took the stage to show off their talents, act out skits or share something interesting. We had a range of acts last night. There were musical acts including three different camper bands complete with guitars, bass, keyboard, piano, drums, and vocals, and assorted songs presented by some cabin groups, a violin solo, one axeman pianist who asked the audience for a song request and then proceeded to play the song (which he had never played before) BY EAR, and a logger pianist playing Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”… BLINDFOLDED!
Beyond the music we watched a Lumberjack comedian tell jokes, a “bed-making contest” (campers brought mattresses and bedding onto the stage and made up the beds for speed – the art of the hospital corner is alive and well!) and of course, some goofy and somewhat incomprehensible skits by a few groups of loggers!
Perhaps the most impactful part of the GTCs is the audience reaction. Regardless of the technical quality of the act, each and every performer gets raucous applause for their efforts. And that applause is earned. In our community we understand that it takes a lot of courage to get up on stage in front of a packed Rec Hall. For many campers on the GTC stage, it may be the first time they’ve stood up in front of a crowd before.
Without fail, each act last night received a roaring ovation. Our kids get it. Elsewhere it may be the norm to boo or jeer or laugh when someone makes a mistake, but last night when it happened, it led to an even louder applause. I think it’s that kind of applause that motivates our campers to keep trying, keep learning, and keep stepping up on that stage.
After the performances, we closed the GTC as we always do with a singalong. At every GTC we sing an array of camp standards as well as a couple modern classics – there’s competitions between the villages to see who can sing their chorus of “One Dark Night” the loudest. We belt out silly songs from the 1930s whose jokes, while funny way back when, now just sound a little nonsense (“The Billboard Song”). There’s rousing bluegrass classics (“Mountain Dew”) and a tongue-in-cheek ballad (“Logger Lover”).
The GTC is one of those evenings where so many of our values come alive, from the support we show each performer, to the unity that comes with the final singalong. What’s more, the spirit of the evening and the songs we sing connect us to the last 95 summers of campers who have gathered in the Rec Hall for this very same tradition.
We end each GTC arm-in-arm, singing three sentimental songs we’ve sung at Camp Nebagamon for generations – “54849,” an addition from the past few decades, and “We Shall Keep The Friends” and “Thanks For The Pines,” two songs which trace back to the earliest days of Camp Nebagamon. There’s something powerful about ending the night singing together as a Camp Family. After an evening of supporting one another as a community and sharing the feeling of our voices echoing through the Rec Hall, we all truly get the sense that we’re part of something bigger than ourselves.
All is well in the Northwoods!