FUN AND FRIENDSHIPS

Summer has returned to Indiana and with it the memory of summers past: playing baseball, working on the farm, sweet corn, vine-ripened tomatoes, and cotton candy at the fair. For me, summer also brings back the memory of summer camp-Girl Scout Camp.

As a child growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, the coming of summer meant the exciting return to Camp Ella J. Logan. This was a time before two family cars, and with Camp Logan an hour outside of Fort Wayne in Syracuse, we’d all meet at North Side High School. There we would find friends from summers past, climb into the bus, wave good-bye to our parents, and spend the drive to camp singing camp songs, usually at the top of our lungs. You knew you were there when the counselors came out to greet you.

It was two weeks of fun! Sleeping in tents-in units named TreeTops, WhistleWind, Kee-Way-Din, Kiwanis or Pioneer; swimming well enough to earn your green cap so you could canoe and camp on Girl Scout Island or Buckles Island; creating crafts and costumes for plays in the Craft House; making ice cream before an evening of storytelling; ending meals with singing songs like “Kumbaya”, “What Lies Over the Hill”, and “The Wind Chill”; building Chippewa kitchens and cooking over a fire; night hikes and campfires and s’mores.

Remember how those two weeks just rushed by and how all too soon it was time to return home? As an adult, the warm evenings in summer still remind me it’s time to return to camp. For most of us, though, jobs, families, and other responsibilities often make this just a memory or a brief longing in the early summer.

This summer, I can keep my promise to return, because it is time for the 75th anniversary of Camp Logan, August 15-17, and I can’t wait to get back. I’m looking forward to storytelling, the return of Tajar, a campfire and a walk-run around camp. There will be waterfront activities, too, including a swim to Girl Scout Island, which used to seem like a swim across the English Channel to me! Actually, now that I think about it, it might still seem that way, now that I’m older and not quite as agile.

I’m excited about seeing old friends, the people who remember me as a young girl and with whom I shared so many camp songs and adventures. I can only imagine how many memories will keep coming back to me between now and then.

 

Camp Logan alumnae, including campers and staff members of all ages, are invited to attend the 75th Anniversary Reunion event, August 15-17. For the girl within, women can re-live the ideals of Girl Scout camping under the green canopy of Logan’s woods.

Whether alumnae come to reminisce with old friends or share fond memories with new ones, the weekend is tailored to appeal to former campers of all ages who wish to soak in the sunshine of Dewart Lake’s sandy shore or hike the wooded trails from Kiwanis’ swamp to Pioneer’s sheltered cabins.

 

Highlights of the weekend include:

• Hiking the history trail of Camp Logan’s 75 years of girl-centered camping

• Canoeing or swimming to Girl Scout Island

• Crafting a personal memento of Camp Logan

• A silent auction for a memory quilt

• Time capsule burial

• Flag ceremonies

• Picnicking

• Recording personal memories of Logan

• A Fun-Run or Walk

• All-camp photo

• Scout’s Own

 

Registrations are being accepted for the entire weekend of activities or just a few hours. Registration information is available from Girl Scouts of Limberlost Council, 2135 Spy Run Avenue, Fort Wayne, (260) 422-3417 or 1-800-283-4812 x 3319.