Friday August 7- Bunk Night 2

More team games and then another "bunk night" was planned for this evening. Now that I think of it, Bunk Nights were strategically placed on the evening before Parents Visiting Days, so we wouldn't be exhausted for our parents. (PVD was stimulating enough as it was...) One of the perennial favorites of bunk night, was some sort of in bunk activity that culminated in us all getting together in one of the social halls. One that comes to mind, was a 'crepepaper ball." This involved us using crepe paper in the most clever ways possible to create costumes for a grand parade that would take place across the stage of the social hall. I'm not certain, but I think we usually dressed up one poor bunkmate as our mannequin, and made her our "entry" for the evening. At any rate, the winners of the crepe paper balls were often posted in the Lenorlog.
It was that big a deal. On one bunk night in 1959, we all dressed up in large, decorated, brown grocery bags, placed over our heads, with openings cut around the eyes so we could see. We were called "Tritzels" and sang a song, with lyrics that ended, "All around the world we've been, Camp Lenore's Bunk eleven." Were it not for someone's helping hands, I almost walked off the stage... Somehow these sorts of activities were supposed to have a calming effect on us. Not so much. Most of us were still too excited to sleep.

Thursday, August 6

Geez... ANOTHER trip to Tanglewood? This time, it was for "Tanglewood on Parade", which was generally a crowd-pleasing evening of Boston Pop favorites. It also was, most likely, our last trip to Tanglewood for the season. As August progressed, the evenings became increasingly cooler, often requiring the addition of our green CL jackets and pants. (How lovely were those green gaberdine numbers?) There was such a wealth of cultural activities all around us, it was easy to become jaded about it. The younger campers were far more interested in the possibility of going to Friendly's.
To Lenorites, Friendly's was the be-all and end-all of rewards. It was the ultimate "carrot on a stick" incentive, but in this case, the stick was encased in ice cream. The deal was, if you received the green flag every day for an entire week, you'd get to leave camp and go to Friendly's in Pittsfield for ice cream cones. If you received the flag for two weeks in a row, you'd get sundaes. Three weeks: something more elaborate. Now, most bunks didn't get the green flag for clean-up two weeks running. However, when I was a Valley Senior one year, I remember we got the green flag every day for the entire summer. This was a huge deal, because we went to Friendly's every week. We finally ended up with our big reward of having dinner there one night. Patty melts, and Awful-Awfuls. (a giant milk shake, whose name was later changed to the Fribble...) I don't doubt that the rules were modified slightly after that...

Wednesday, August 5 - Activities

In going through all my Lenorlogs over the years, I was struck by the wide range of activities that we were offered on a daily basis. ( In addition to our daily swimming classes.) And though this date in 1959 indicates another team game, which was more than likely a field event of some sort (volleyball, kick ball, soft ball, cage ball), there were a slew of other non-competitive activities that occupied our time. Many activities were added over the years as girls tastes changed. By 1966, the roster included: Arts and crafts, Fine Arts, Dance, Guitar, Drama, Waterskiing, Sailing, Rowing, Canoeing, Campcrafts, Archery, Golf, Tennis and Nature. In 1967, fencing was added. All of these activities were included in our camp tuition. The only "extra' was horseback riding, which was something that I really wanted to do. One accessed the riding rink by entering a heavily shrubbed area between Bunk 16 and the Lodge, and following a path which passed a large equipment garage. The path eventually opened to a clearing which revealed the stable and a large, enclosed riding corral. By and large, the horses were old and generally foul-tempered. I remember I always seemed to get Cinnamon, whose pleasant name unfortunately didn't match his disposition. Since we rode "English", I learned to walk, post, trot, canter, and eventually, even take a jump or two. Though there were some lovely trails around camp that I eventually saw in the following years, I spent most of the summer of 1959 just trying to get Cinnamon to move forward...

Tuesday, August 4 The DDT truck

At some point during our summer, usually around dusk, a truck would appear, spewing beautiful billows of smoke in its wake. It would usually be heralded by the gleeful cries of, "DDT!, DDT!" As the truck made its way down the roads behind the bunks on Campus, or down the Lane, some prudent campers would wisely hold their noses and run into their bunks. However, the braver souls among us would take turns running in and out of the grey clouds that followed the vehicle, cheerfully losing themselves in the vapors. In 1959, no one seemed too terribly concerned.
Afterall, it wasn't like we were running with scissors...

Monday, August 3 Senior Swim Meet

As the month of August started, the Color War "battles" became more heated. Here's Anita Turenshine's* account from the '59 Lenorlog
'Early in the morning of August 3rd, the Seniors held their annual swim meet. Besides, the usual races and form events, special extras were the water melon relay, Camp Lenore Block event, and teh cap relay, adding to the excitement of the meet.
After all the events were finished, everyone agreed the meet was very exciting and very close."

A few things struck me about this entry. One, was that several years later, Anita Turenshine moved into my neighborhood, and had changed her name to Anita Turen. Two, this entry reminded me how cold that water was early in the morning! My favorite events were form diving and the breaststroke. But, I had completely forgotten about the Lenore Block event: dozens of floating baby blocks with all sorts of letters were set free in one of the cribs on the waterfront. The first team to find the letters that spelled out Camp Lenore in their team colors, and return them to the dock was the winner. I don't remember too many details about the water melon relay, other than the melon was greased, bobbed around a lot, and you had to get it from one side of the crib to the other. I think the cap relay entailed swimming with something in a bathing cap and passing it from one swimmer to the the next. There was alot at stake here, because the swim meet was worth quite a few points to the team that won.
After all that, we had to walk back up the hill for the quarter of a mile hike back to camp. And that was just the beginning of the day.

Sunday, August 2- The Winds of Change & The Valley Trip

It's hard to believe that we're at the mid-way point in our summer. Just four weeks of camp left. In 1959, eight weeks of sleep away camp was the only option camps offered. Today, due to the high cost of overnight camps, along with the variety of other recreational activities available to kids, most camps offer a one, three, or four week session. Back then, we were all on the eight-week plan. Little did we know, in a few short years, there would be a variety of external and internal forces that would not only affect our summers at Lenore, but camps in general.
The late fifties to the early seventies were probably the Golden Years of sleep away camps. That's certainly due to the fact that we Baby Boomers, the largest portion of the population, were growing up during that time. So, there were alot of us going to camp. But, starting in the early sixties, camps had to compete with a new phenomenon: the Teen Tour. These tours included teenage girls and boys, and involved travelling by bus to different destinations around the country.(often to visit colleges) They became quite popular with those girls who were ready for a change from "traditional" camp.
As we all learned in biology, those that can't adapt, soon become extinct. The Directors of Lenore wisely saw this looming trend, and chose to counter it with: The Valley Trip. As early as 1962, the Senior Valley girls spent a good portion of a week travelling by bus to visit some of the top colleges in the area. It was received quite enthusiastically, And was alot of fun.( I distinctly remember sleeping in one of the dorms at Wellesley on a very warm night...) This strategy, though not perfect, must have worked for a while, at least. Because I don't remember losing too many of my Lenore friends to teen tours. But, Lenore was a "generalist" camp in an ever-increasing field of "specialist" camps. Tennis, Drama, co-ed and "Work" camps were now all competing for kids' attention and parents' wallets. This, no doubt, was also a contributing factor to declining enrollment during the mid-sixties.
But, Lenore had to face a far more difficult challenge: old age. In 1959, ithe camp was already a middle-aged 42 years old, and I have no doubt that maintaining it, or repairing it was becoming increasingly expensive. The three "active" Directors were getting on in age, and Mrs. Spec was already ancient...By 1962, some unfamiliar faces began to appear at the Lodge and some of our lunches and activities...
But, none of us was thinking that far ahead. This was 1959, the first Sunday in August, and like every prior Sunday, we went to Music Hour. The only thing on most of our minds was what comic book we were going to read.

Saturday, August 1 -Look Park!

For every year I was at Lenore, we always took a trip to a recreation facility called Look Park. It was one of the most popular outings of the summer. Look Park was the closest thing we had to today's water parks. Only not nearly as elaborate and high tech. But, it was huge (or,so it seemed to us), and featured enormous swimming pools with twisting slides. There were other attractions as well. But, I just remember those swimming pools. Here's the Lenorlog entry for this date, written by Patsy Goldstein
"On the sunny after of August first, most the Inters took a long-dreamed of trip to Look Park- a paradise enjoyed by every active child. A few of its many attractions are tamed wild animals, peddle boats, and a large heated pool.
After an enjoyable bus ride, we arrived at the park. When we got settled, we had a delicious picnic lunch. After lunch, we eagerly explored the many sights.
The climax of the day, was when we went swimming in the huge heated pool, at the end of which was an enormous slide. Many campers had fun zooming down it.
We returned to camp tired, but happy with many pleasant memories of Look Park."