My Day at the Rainbow Lake Open House

As a former camper and now a summer intern at Campfire Circle, I had a great time at the Rainbow Lake Open House! When our guests arrived, I joined with the other tour guides to take the groups of visitors on a tour of camp. The tours were a lot of fun and it was nice to see the site again, and to have so many camp memories flow back to me. After the tours concluded, we were able to do some fun, camp-inspired activities. These activities reminded me of my experience at camp and how each day had scheduled program where we were either free to choose one of our own activities or join in with a group.

The fun and games at the Open House included arts and crafts, fishing, a s’mores bar, disk golf, and film your camper story, which all captured the essence of camp! As a camper, I loved making shrink art and other arts and crafts to take home as memories. I would mostly make bling to put on my camp braid to remember the time I spent at camp. I also loved fishing on the fishing dock, so I was excited to see the new accessible fishing dock that will enable all campers to fish, no matter their abilities! This is another one of the many things I loved about being at camp—whatever a kid is going through or what challenges they face in their lives, at camp, these challenges are embraced and conquered. Camp makes everyone feel like they can do anything they set their mind to. For me, whenever I was at camp, I always felt like the sky was the limit, which is not necessarily how I would feel elsewhere, so it was something special to be a part of the Campfire Circle community.

After the tours and activities, we sat down for lunch. Meal times at camp were the best because we sang songs, played games, and laughed a lot. This is exactly what I got to do at the Open House. It was so much fun to participate in camp traditions again and act silly like I did as a camper. I missed all the camp songs. Sometimes, I hum them at home and at school when my mind drifts off. It was nice to be back in the environment where I wasn’t the only one who knew these songs and we could cheer and dance together.

After lunch, we played even more activities, and then at the end of the amazing day, we all said goodbye. I took away even more memories back home with me. This day was very special to me because I was able to have a glimpse of one of the things that makes me happiest: being back at camp.
– Stef, Campfire Circle Intern and Former Camper