All-Camp Day

The reunion got underway on Friday morning with All-Camp Day. This is when all the various neighborhood camps come together for a friendly competition.  I helped start this tradition in 1991.  A year later, I added the golden crate which is the coveted prize (along with bragging rights) to the entire event.  Each camp has a camp color and get all decked out in it.  They have since added a mascot competition which is really over-the-top. Each camp has a theme to their outfits to match their mascot.  All-camp day was once held at various camp locations throughout the city, then in the UP sanctuary for a number of years (where 1000 people packed into the un-air conditioned space caused some heat-related  health issues), but now it is held in the Rutgers University - Camden gym and theater.

Before we loaded on the bus, we got our faces painted in the colors of the camp we wanted to cheer on.  I really oversaw every camp, so never really chose, but since I started Camp Saved (Red), Camden selected to have a red heart (and a pink cross because she loves pink).

The camps march in one-by-one.  The place is louder than you can even imagine.

Camden was slightly overwhelmed to begin with, but then Camp Grace came in with their Peter Pan theme.  Oh my!  There was a Peter, Captain Hook, Rufio, and Tinkerbell.



Camp Saved went with a Dr. Seuss theme which was ridiculously amazing.

I was one of the judges giving out points for costume, mascots, and most importantly participation and good sportsmanship.  Camden stayed by my side and assisted me.

After the main competitions in the gym, we filed out to the theater next door for the camp song competition.  Each camp writes and performs an original song that promotes their camp.  We all really liked Camp Spirits creation.

We are having silly computer problems uploading images and videos (hence the long time it's taking to release these posts), but as soon as it's resolved I have several videos to accompany many of these posts.