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Summertime @ Camp Maqua

Published on by Kathy Baker

Our kids wait all year for summer to arrive on Loon Lake to make new memories for their kids. It is not an easy flight with two daughters and their families living in California. The drive is long for two sons residing in Florida, but flights are plentiful. This airline industry, staff shortages, gas prices, and delays made for miserable flying conditions for three families. Throw in some Covid, and it was a recipe for more misery.

Daughter Brooke arrived from California and worked in the perennial garden. It has never looked better. Granddaughter Kate, Isaiah, and baby Ziah arrived from California with the trip from “you know where.” They were to split their time between two sets of grandparents’ homes, only to contract Covid. When their isolation was up, and they arrived here to share time with son Tyler, Stephanie, and their three, Covid visited me. Off they scattered, some flying back home and others making a vacation in Michigan, but not at Camp Maqua. It was sad for all of us.

The boat parade for the fourth of July is a great gathering time. Supplies are purchased for the theme each family decides upon, and on the morning of the parade, the team sets to work decorating the boat. I had put a great deal of advance work on our theme, By the time the day arrived, the families had left, and Bill and I manned an undecorated boat, socially distancing from all concerned. Maybe, next year?

The parade had some great entries, but the winners were the Joe and Denise Clancy family, who always go out of their way to create fantastic themes. They competed against another Camp Maqua family but won with the theme “Christmas in July,” which was always a camp theme back in the olden days! Neighbors Marcia and Dominic Smith and family were hippies, dressed in tie-dye outfits.

Son Kyle and his family have too many commitments to join us this year, but Steve and Dawn made Camp Maqua a part of their family trip from California. Bodhi and Kai are at great ages to fish, swim and enjoy the beach activities. Boat and golf cart rides complete the summer fun, spotting the loons and deer on their excursions.

My husband is busy painting the outbuildings to match the lodge, refinishing doors and windows, and general repairs. We had three new window boxes and railings built for the porches for safety. (Read: keep us older peeps from falling). This old building will be 100 years old in 2024, so upkeep is a never-ending project, but we are grateful every day for the decision to buy the lodge.

 

 

Summer at Maqua!

Published on by Kathy Baker

I have plans to make an “Opening Up” bible for this lodge. As minimal as I think I have kept this summer home, there is so much to do! (Will my kids know what to do if we are gone?)  Not only the cleaning but un-storing all the summer stuff. Cushions and porch furniture washed, bootstrap benches and camp tables vacuumed for spider webs and nests, boat paraphernalia carted down to the boat and bedding back onto the many beds for future guests. And then there’s the garden, filled with weeds and lost plants that did not survive the frost begging for replacements and tidiness.

I am not complaining, because my soul is in this lodge and on this lake. We arrived early this year, so I was able to smell the lilacs on my walk and see the irises bloom. I had no idea that Hale’s main street had flowering trees bordering each side because I am never here this early. A fluffy little woodchuck (or are they gophers?) keep peeping their little selves out in my garden to nibble on whatever looks good. The boat went into the water early, and the weather has been perfect for cruises around Loon Lake to view the new homes. (The old Camp Mahn-go-tah-see is now home to some substantial new year-round homes.)

Three of my four children and seven of my grandchildren, plus one great-granddaughter, will be here over the summer. I can’t wait for the mayhem, the joy, the fun, and the memories of the campfires, weenie roasts, and marshmallow toasting. The beach has new sand, an endless leveler of all ages, as is the shallow beachfront. The boathouse is filled with floaties, beach chairs, and toys waiting for them. In the lodge, the ping-pong table is ready, as is the trampoline and all the old sports toys leftover from camp. Rainy days bring crafts, games, and hours of photos in the albums from 1987 to the present of our family fun.

The porch is our porch of dreams. No matter what the weather brings, we can still have an indoor campfire with candles, watch movies, play darts, board games, or Euchre. If it’s cold, we wrap up in blankets. If it’s hot, we turn on the fan. If it’s just right, it’s just right. It means coffee in the morning, meals on the camp tables, and endless laughter and stories.

Merry Variant Christmas 2021!

Published on by Kathy Baker

I am sure we all thought the Covid virus would be in the rearview mirror by the time we headed into 2022, but it is beginning to look a lot like a Merry Variant Christmas. Like an atom that keeps on splitting, the world is cautiously on watch once more for the mutations that threaten our holidays with friends and family. My wish for the new year is that it mutates its way right out of existence so that that life can return to normal.

The virus has kept us from our California family for close to two years. The vaccines and boosters have allowed us a semblance of safety for travel, so we will happily mask up for the long flight from Florida to California. Florida has been pretty open, so we have enjoyed activities with our two sons and families and the four grandkids this past year. Finally, we will spend a month during the holidays with two daughters and their families, hugging on the latest addition of a great-granddaughter and four grandchildren.

Our year was safe and filled with travel through our beautiful country. I have a driving fool for a husband, so we drove to Michigan in the spring, drove to Texas for a funeral and back, visiting friends along the way. In the fall, as we pulled out of the autumn color surrounding Camp Maqua, we headed through the Adirondacks and into New York, with many stops to see friends along the east coast. Our trip was planned around visiting the 9/11 Memorials, which were meaningful and memorable. It was a trip filled with great weather and scenery visiting old friends on our return to Florida for the winter.

Retirement has been good with the freedom to pick up and go. We appreciated the protocols instituted on the trips that allowed us to see the country safely, but many were closed to the public. I am grateful for FaceTime, Facebook which has allowed me to continue to communicate with my loved ones.

I have also enjoyed keeping up with the many new friends I have made through the Camp Maqua experience. Camper Laura Taylor made a visited camp this summer, and we made two stops on our way south to see Barbara Haggart and Jen Sibole and Beth Taylor and her husband George. They were all gracious hosts.

My books continue to sell, which makes my heart happy, but I have plenty left for gifts! Thank you for your continued loyalty. Happy New Year to you and yours!

Archival Albums

Published on by Kathy Baker

How many of us have dusty old albums from our family tucked away with photos undated, faces not named and places not revealed? I can remember the first time I had access to the Camp Maqua archives in 2011. I was so excited to see the oldest ones from the early twenties, with dates and and names. They were buried in the basement of the Bay City YWCA offices at the time, piled in boxes with random photos also stuffed in envelopes. I was equally thrilled when the director allowed me to take a sampling of photos and albums home with me.

Every year at Camp Maqua, we have an association meeting with the residents. I spread the photos and albums on the old linoleum topped dining tables for them to peek into the past at the 2011 meeting.They were as excited as I was to see the dwellings that still stood on the property in the early days. I think seeing the pristine condition of the craft hut, boathouse, camp Brownie, and some of the huts planted the seed for the need to restore our precious buildings, which we did..

Years later, after many women had driven down Maqua Trail and stopped to see if the camp was still there, the idea was planted in my mind to write their stories down. Many provided clues to who were in the photos that were not named along with their stories. The boxes of archival photos that were loaned to me in for two years gave me the opportunity to organize them by era. Later, a director who was on board with my project had the foresight to enlist college kids to archive many clippings and photos professionally.

At this time, after the Y office has moved many times, the archives are at the Historical Museum of Bay County. I had hoped to see what they have before I left in September, but it did not happen. Next May I will stop again to see all the archives that were not only saved, but contained many of campers and directors donated memoribilia. I would love to see them on permanent display.

I have been given hope that we can bring the archives back to Iosco County by the director of the Greater Bay YWCA. It will be my project upon my return to Michigan, as many of the donated photos and items were given to me when I interviewed for the book. It was my understanding they would be on public display when I donated them to the Y. If any of the staff or campers have albums or photos from camp to donate, send me a message at walkbake@gmail.com

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End of Summer

Published on by Kathy Baker

The leaves are turning, but we won’t be here to see the brilliant fall foliage as we head to Florida for the winter the long way. (Down the east coast from Maine, hopefully with peak color.) What a wonderful summer with just the right amount of sun and rain, company, and downtime.

Our partner in the lodge and business passed away this summer. Bill’s Uncle Aaron Starks was a man of faith who raised three great children with his wife, Blanche. He will be missed by all who loved him and was instrumental in many restoration projects of the lodge and our golf course.

We were blessed to have three of our four children and families visit this summer, who enjoyed the lake activities, cart rides, and tourist trips. Hopefully, next summer is Covid-free, so our young ones from California can fly again. Somehow bonfires without the kids roasting marshmallows or catching fireflies are not the same when they aren’t there.

The saddest part of our summer was the loss of the giant sycamore tree that stood mighty and tall by the west side of the lodge. Rotting from the inside, we had to remove it before it fell. We grieved to see it come down, with all the history it must have seen. It was well over 100 years old, and the rings left on the stump had stories to tell. Several families preserved some of the enormous rounds for tables to remember the tree.

The second saddest event was the complete implosion of hut #6, which sat on the property next to Dutton. It had been moved across the road and used as storage by the Fidler family. For years the door opened into a hut of treasured names and dates. Now, the shingled roof sits inside the hut, resembling a fairy forest of algae and moss.

The Maqua Association held its annual meeting by the campfire. Lydia Engel displayed the new Maqua flag, and we had a flag-raising ceremony before our pot-luck with plans to order a new American flag to replace the existing one. The deck by the boathouse is also under repair by Kim Gorman, Bill Baker, and Thom Engel, to prevent further rotting of the wood. The deck is over twenty years old and is our favorite gathering spot for all things Maqua.

My granddaughters Ainsley and Addison, and Mom Stephanie Baker, assisted me with a Camp Maqua summer display in the Plainfield Township Hall museum. We gathered memorabilia from the lodge for the tableau, featured in the local paper with a previous article written about the camp. I also visited the Greater Bay Region YWCA to meet the new director with the desire to house some of their archives for our 100-year celebration of Camp Maqua on the Loon Lake property in 2024. (Stay tuned for details!)

I am unsure of the steps to register Camp Maqua and its buildings on the historic Michigan register, but it is my winter research project. It is my hope that there will be grants to help with our building preservation. If there are any campers or staff that have experience with this, please email me at walkbake@gmail.com.

A Piece Of History

Published on by Kathy Baker

For the girls’ who camped at Maqua, the boys’ camp across the lake was a constant lure of excitement. The stories were legend of attempts to meet the boys in the middle of the lake, and to conjure pranks between the two camps was as fun as the socials that were held for the counselors.

Camp Mahn-go-tah-see was a YMCA camp with headquarters in Oakland County, which operated from 1929-1987. Just as Camp Maqua fell into financial difficulties, the boys’ camp was not exempt, and they sold the camp to the Michigan District LMS. (Lutheran Church). Two new buildings were added in 1996, and in 1997 a task force was appointed to study the camp’s future.

My two daughters attended day camp in the 90s, and my oldest daughter experienced a week there camping in a bunkhouse by the beach. Her memories of the dining hall, a large wooden structure with tall ceilings and a stone fireplace, remain in her memory. Endurance swimming, riflery, archery, and other activities were similar to what the girls of Camp Maqua experienced during their sessions.

On warm summer mornings, the sounds of marching bands practicing on the large open field could be heard around the lake. Many summer concerts were shared at the end of their sessions, as residents boated over to watch their accomplishments on the field. It was a sad day when the children’s camp closed in 2000, and we heard no more music from the high school marching bands from around the state.

Renamed the Loon Lake Lutheran Retreat Center in 2000, it continued to be rented by various organizations, high schools, and individual families until the next sale to a private investment group in 2018. Currently, developers and builders Kandi and Darin Eyth are busy with the sales of lots and homebuilding, with a low density ensuring pristine Loon Lake will remain quiet with very little boat traffic. Seven of the fifteen lots have been sold at this time.

My husband and I had the opportunity to view their beautiful home and enjoyed a cart ride around the old camp. The sad old cabins and dining hall are barely standing, but the property remains beautiful. The Eyth’s have incorporated many of the old signs, relics, and artifacts into their new home and the floors and walls showcase the repurposed wood of the old buildings. Their view from the camp’s property is wonderful, built with huge windows to take advantage of the view.

As we carted and walked over the bridges, sat on the bluff overlooking the lake, and peeked into old buildings, they talked of their plans. We passed an old sign with a bible passage from the original camping days, enclosed in a wooden structure. When I heard they did not know what to do with it, I jumped at the chance to house it at Camp Maqua, and it now graces our wall on the sports porch. I am thrilled to be the new owner, and they are happy it has a new home. My happiness also extends to the knowledge that a young couple has an appreciation for the history of Camp Mahn-go-tah-see and a vision for the utilization of the property for the future.