Hey, Camp Kids!

At Everything Summer Camp, we look far and wide to see what famous folks also turn out to be former summer campers and, so far, we’ve posted about more than 80 people! Shari Lewis was a definite must when we saw she a former camper! Her name may not be immediately recognizable to everyone, but we all know her for her adorable sock puppet character, Lamb Chop!

A professional children’s entertainer all her life—before embarking on her road to fame and fortune, she spent her summer days at Camp Louise of Airy & Louise. Located just a few miles away from each other in the Catoctin Mountains of western Maryland, Airy and Louise, each camp stretches out about 400 acres that display natural beauty along with the camps’ prided rustic facilities.

Shari was encouraged from a very young age to practice in the performing trade. Her father, who practiced as an incredibly successful magician, taught her magic tricks when she was 13. But she didn’t stop there. She also learned a bit in acrobatics, juggling, ice-skating, baton-twirling, and she learned to play piano as well as violin. It was an instructor name John W. Cooper who taught her the art of ventriloquism.

She went on to study piano and violin at New York’s High School of Music and Art and she took dance classes at the American School of Ballet. She also took acting classes with a group called Sanford Meisner in the ‘Neighborhood Playhouse’ association. After she finished high school, she registered for a classes at Barnard College, but she only stayed a year.

Instead of continuing school, she took her chance then and there to pursue a career in show business. When she was 19, she won first prize for a talent show on CBS’ ‘Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts’. This launched her into gigs hosting a handful of children’s television series in New York.

It didn’t take long before Lamb Chop was introduced to the world on an episode of ‘Captain Kangaroo’. With a number of other characters in her stockpile, Shari was ready to debut her very own kids show—‘The Shari Lewis Show’ in 1960. It replaced ‘The Howdy Doody Show’.

She appeared in lots of other shows among the years, but she finally hit it big in the early 90’s with her Emmy-winning show ‘Lamb Chop’s Play Along’ on PBS. She passed away in the summer of 1998. The world misses Shari Lewis and the wonderful talent and hysterical antics she brought to the world of children’s entertainment. You can check out Camp Louise right here. Check out a clip of ‘The Shari Lewis Show’ below and, as always, thanks for reading!

-    John

Hey, Camp Fans!

We were glad to receive such a great response to our ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest we put on here at Everything Summer Camp—roughly 30 entries! Of course, we’re eager, now, to share each entry right here on the Blog! After seven lucky winners of the bigger prizes, all other submissions got a $15 gift certificate to our online store! Today’s post is from Jennifer M., who wrote in to tell us about her daughter’s summer stay at Camp Wise. “Overnight camp had been a discussion in our house for years. There was only one camp we were considering and knew that it would be a great choice for our daughter if she went to overnight camp. We are a very close family and wanted to make sure she was ready to be away from home. Then she felt 100% sure she wanted to try it, and the decision was made!
             lEvery day, Camp posted over 100 photos of kids. That was certainly not something my parents got when I went to overnight camp! We knew we were lucky as we saw photos of her every day. Every night after dinner, it was an eagerly anticipated event to check the photos. When we picked her up, we learned the camp photographer lived in her cabin, so the photographer’s familiarity of our daughter must have helped! It was a little odd to see her wearing a pajama top as a shirt in the photos more than once, but hey, as long as she was safe and happy, who cared, and it was a funny story and we teased her about it when she got home.
             lThe second summer our daughter went was much easier on all of us – we all knew what to expect. She knew she was going to return to all the great activities, great friends, great counselors, and a very special time away from home. We saw a lot fewer pictures of her, but we knew she was having a blast. In one photo, when I saw her shirt didn’t quite match her shorts, again, I reasoned, she’s safe and happy, it’s okay. It would have been nice if her letter telling us who was in her cabin and what her activities were arrived more than 15 hours before she got home, when the activities were of course all over, but, she was apparently having too much fun to write it any sooner!”

Camp is fun, but it’s chaos, for sure! Mismatching outfits and pajama tops in the daytime are more or less normal in a place like summer camp—just go with it! Glad she loves her time at camp so much! Be sure that you check out Camp Wise for yourself sometime and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Camp People!

Here at Everything Summer Camp we’re proud to work closely with about 250 summer camps across the nation. And it’s my pleasure to tell you about what fantastic camps they are! That’s why we shine our summer camp spotlight on those with whom we’ve developed great relationships. Today, our spotlight shifts northeast, up the east coast to shine on our friends at Camp Dudley!

Camp Dudley for boys is located in the small town of Westport, New York on 500 acres in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains along the shores of Lake Champlain. The owners of Dudley have been developing their complimentary campus and maintaining the beautiful grounds where they landed for the past 108 years.

Dudley campers find awesome opportunities to sharpen their skills in sports like Soccer, Basketball, Lacrosse, Baseball, Flag Football, Ultimate Frisbee, Archery, Riflery, Golf, Tennis, Rock Climbing, Sailing, Fishing, and Snorkeling. There’s also multi-day Hikes, Arts & Crafts, Drama, Music, Photography, and much, much more.

All these great activities are waiting for you at Dudley—let me give you a virtual tour: your camper will find a comfortable and accommodating living space in one of the 41 cabins that sit along the shoreline.

The biggest buildings at Camp Dudley are the Beckman Dining Hall and the auditorium, Witherbee Hall with Sommer Hall (the gymnasium) coming in third. They have playing fields, the Brodie Arts and Crafts studio, the Avery boathouse and a lot more.

Escape to Camp Dudley this upcoming summer! It’s a great place for boys to take their first few subtle steps toward maturity.

If Camp Dudley sounds like a camp that you’d like to check out for your own summer camping experience, you can do so right here. Enjoy your search for a good matching camp that’s suitable for your child and, as always, thanks for reading! 

- John

Hey, Halloween Enthusiasts!

The time has come once again to parade ourselves in costumes to pretend we are who we are not. I love it. You love it. Everyone I know loves it! It’s Halloween. From Trick-or-Treating to haunted houses, you can’t go wrong with this holiday! Lots of people like to do it up for Halloween. And some of them do it up in a frighteningly fantastic way!

Take a look at three towns across the country that do Halloween BIG each year:

Park City, Utah
Talk about ‘parading’ around—streets of Park City (or should I say ‘Bark’ City) in Utah actually look like a parade during their Howl-o-Ween street party. Packed with costumed travelers, Park City’s streets get a treat of a rather old tradition. Annual ghost tours are held as well in which spooky sites are visited and tales of the dead are told.

St. Helen, Oregon
After the small town of St. Helen in Oregon got a heavy dosage of decking the halls for Halloween when The Disney Channel used their town to film their Halloween classic, ‘Halloweentown’ in 1998, the townsfolk got addicted to the all-out Halloween spirit. Because they loved it so much, they go to incredible lengths to recreate the setup each year! The town holds tours and costume contests every weekend throughout October!

Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Last, but not least, is the small town of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Not very long ago, a documentary called, ‘The American Scream’ was filmed there to focus on three families who all coincidentally live in the same neighborhood and each one as just as obsessed with Halloween as the next. Going as far as to create legitimate haunted houses in their backyards, you can check out a preview to the documentary below.

Enjoy all of your Halloween scares and treats this spooky season and, as always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Camp Fans!

Happy to receive roughly 30 entries for the ‘Share Your Camp Story’ Contest we put on here at Everything Summer Camp. And now we’re eager to share each one right here on the Blog! After seven lucky winners of larger prizes, all other submissions got a $15 gift certificate to our online shop! Today we have a submission from Gayle S., who wrote in to tell us about her experience saying goodbye to her daughter for her camp stay at Camp Longhorn.

“When I agreed to sign my oldest daughter up for the same camp that her dad attended, I was hesitant because I couldn’t imagine sending my 9-year-old away for two weeks. Two weeks without her mom or dad to hug her good night. Two weeks without her brother and sisters to play with. Two weeks of sleeping with a room full of girls instead of being in her own bed in her own room. I was certain she would be home sick and cry herself to sleep at least once, but camp wasn’t until the last two weeks of summer and that seemed so far off so I just didn’t think about it.
          lThe summer flew by as it tends to do each year, only this time we found ourselves ordering a teal trunk, labeling clothes and shopping for a battery-operated fan and stationery. We spent hours filling her trunk, lid organizer, and glide trays making sure that she knew where all her necessities would be. I hid notes of love and encouragement in a few strategic places. I wanted to make her first time at camp as easy as possible.
          lDropping her off at camp was quick and easy. Just jump out of the car, unload that pretty teal trunk, and hand it—and our daughter—off to the smiling counselors who were overflowing with excitement for the experience to come. I stopped the whole process to grab one last hug and a quick family photo and then drove away with minimal tears in my own eyes. The next two weeks we received a few letters from our daughter who was loving every minute of Camp Longhorn. We heard about finding arrowheads, zipping into the water on a trolley, new friends, and new experiences. We saw photos the camp posted each day and saw our daughter bouncing on a blob, dancing, and having fun with her cabin mates.
           lFinally V-Day arrived and while we were met with huge hugs, there were no tears. Instead we had introductions to new friends, a guided tour of her favorite camp places, a taste of some daily camp rituals, and we added a bunny from the petting zoo to our household. She had thought of us often and missed us a little, but the nights didn’t end with her crying, instead she was lulled to sleep by cicadas. She had a room full of new sisters and will miss them terribly until they are reunited next summer. I realized that this experience wasn’t depriving me of my daughter for two weeks, but instead it was giving her safe place to grow in new ways. She embraced the same traditions and experiences that her dad had many years ago, and I often overhear her telling her younger sister, ‘Next year at camp, you are going to absolutely love…’ Attawaytogo Camp Longhorn! Thank you for making me and my daughter part of your family.”

I’m glad you made your peace with summer camp and that it was such a blast for your daughter, Gayle! We hope that next year is just as good for her and for your younger daughter too! You can check out Camp Longhorn for yourself right here and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John