Hello to all you humans from HVC, where a storm is about to roll through in the half-hour or so before the Lobster Banquet. Never a dull moment here at camp! I promised you plenty of pics from yesterday and I got ’em! But before that, a little something to “wet” your appetite (see what I did there?): a few photos of the swim team’s trip to Belfast on Saturday to swim in the ocean!
And now that we’re all caught up on that, on to yesterday! I’ve heard a lot of campers say that Fair Day is the best day of camp, and while my hearing parts are much closer to the ground than their speaking parts, here’s what I understand to be the reason: so many special, once-a-session events take place! The day begins with the HVC Road Race, in which any interested campers and counselors are driven up to the end of the camp road and run the 1.3 miles or so downhill into camp, where they are cheered on by the rest of the community. Peter likes to say that Montville’s town motto is “It’s All Downhill From Here,” which would certainly be fitting! We got some terrific photos of both the race’s start and all of the finishers (although not in order!). The weather was great for running and folks seemed to have a blast. Check it out!
After the road race, cabins set up their booths for the fair, and then everyone headed up to the Brumby Horse Show! These campers have spent the last four weeks in a specialized riding program in which they take care of the horses and have extra riding time each day. I do wish that I had been able to go up and watch myself, but if I’m honest, horses are awfully big and I find them a little intimidating. Still everyone who went said that it was such a treat to see all that the campers had been working on and their special connection to the horses. I’m so glad I at least got to see these photos that our photo staff took!
After the horse show, the fair began! The magic of Fair Day is that everyone plays a part in making the fair happen–campers divide into shifts and each spend some time working at their cabin’s booth, but when they aren’t working, they can explore the fair and everyone else’s booths and all the delicious treats on offer! Betty Cartwheels, one of the kittens in my chosen family, listed all the cabins’ booths for me:
- Loons: Inflatable Waterslide
- Avalon: Jelly Bean Guess
- Wombles: Facepainting
- French Quarter: Fortune Telling
- Paquatahnee: Name Change
- Gimme Shelter: Soft Pretzels
- Valhalla: Ice Cream
- Shangri-La: DJ Booth
- Bermuda Triangle: Inflatable Jousting
- Fiddler’s Green: Moon Bounce
- Camelot: Marriage Booth
- Taj Mahal: Hershey’s Kiss-o-Grams
- Forbidden Planet: Fried Dough
- Halley’s Comet: Drinks
- HVA: Riddle Booth
- Community: Trash for Treats
There were horse-drawn hayrides too, but as you can imagine, I kept my distance. Look at how much fun everyone had!
Speaking of group efforts, another special part of Fair Day is the Art Show, in which campers’ pieces from the entire session are beautifully displayed by our arts staff: everything from leatherworking, screenprinting, and photography to collage, painting, and pottery, from stained glass, woodworking, and glass-blowing to fused glass, glass beads, mosaics, and toy-making! I think that not having thumbs would keep me from being able to do a lot of this artwork myself, but I sure would love to learn! Have a look at the campers’ creations!
This fabulous day ended with the Fair Day Dance, which provided such a joyful finale to what might just be the best day of camp. I could hear the music and everyone singing along all the way across camp at the animal pen! Campers, counselors, directors, and GORPs were out there at the gazebo, just enjoying getting to be together as the session draws to a close.
And that, friends, was Fair Day. There’s an awful lot to love about it! Hope you’ve enjoyed the photos. I’ll be reporting once more tomorrow, to tell you about the very end of the first session, and then our next news report will be on Sunday, once second session has gotten underway.
Fuzztastically yours,
Carolina Duckling