Traditions

Planning for the Centennial at Camp Maqua!

Published on by Kathy Baker

The end of Michigan’s season for us is always bittersweet. We head to sunny Florida, but the autumn leaves are so beautiful, especially around the boathouse and on Loon Lake. Our last boat ride before storing the boat for the winter was stunning. Calm lake, blue skies, baby loon growing, and foliage on display in all its glory.

The excitement of ending was the planning for our big 100-year anniversary next June 15, 2024. I have visions of the first campers arriving at the lodge, with the newness of each hut, meeting their counselors for the first time. But, I know campers and staff can envision your own realities and memories! Do you remember all the planning it took to prepare your trunks with the right items from the suggested list in your flyers? For the staff, there were days and weeks of planning for the activities for the summer; food acquisition, and preparation; medical and nature supplies; beachfront maintenance, etc.

Our committee managed to get all the details ready for tents, chairs, tables, food, entertainment, souvenirs, and volunteers to work the various stations on the day of the tours, walkabouts, and archival displays. But, we need your help to make this successful! The numbers need to be in by January for ordering purposes and for us to be able to plan for food. Your tickets are our guarantee that our planning will run smoothly on the day. Hopefully, 100 happy campers will not be disappointed with our efforts for a successful day.

There will be golf carts to ferry everyone from their cars to the lodge, and for those with disabilities–to and from the lakefront or Chapel Hill. The Plainfield Township Historical Commission will manage the check-in, tours in the main rooms of the lodge, and the display in the Craft Hut. The residents will be on hand to greet everyone and listen to your wonderful memories! We are as excited as campers on their first visit! Sending greetings from our families–The Starks, R., and B. Baker, Engel, Smith, West,Gorman, Clancey, Kirila, Braun, and Fidler families welcome you!  (Photo  credits  Keegan  Cooley)

 

 

Independence Day on Loon Lake

Published on by Kathy Baker

How many celebrations must have occurred on Loon Lake over the years with campers from the generations before us–years of traditions celebrating our independence–during the war years of the forties and sixties–mixed feelings of patriotism with fear for loved ones serving overseas? This year is no different, with many of our friends and relatives in the armed forces still deployed in troubled zones worldwide.

Having lived outside the United States for 12 years of my life, fueled by generations who served in my family—my grandfather, uncle, father, and aunt who all did their part during WWII, the Korean and Vietnam wars, I have a deep sense of Patriotism. As Americans living in England during the turbulent 60s, our families continued to celebrate our traditions of Independence from the colonies in our hometown complete with fireworks and barbecues and American potluck dishes.

In the 60s at Camp Maqua, ” special events included Worldwide Fellowship, which was celebrated in the first session in conjunction with the 4th of July. On Sunday at the Chapel Hill vespers and services, the series would begin. It was a day set aside for friendship and fellowship on a state and local level”, I wrote in one of my blogs. Not many girls interviewed mentioned what celebrations took place on the property on Loon Lake.

This weekend Loon Lake was as busy as I have ever seen it. Multiple boats, jet-skis, tubers, and floating revelers enjoyed the 90-degree weather. The annual boat parade was held, with about 25 decorated boats parading slowly around the shores for families to enjoy. Although I did not have any family up this weekend, I enjoyed seeing the shoreline dotted with deck chairs, firepits, children fishing from their docks, and inflatables filled with bathers.

Two of our neighbors with grandchildren try to outdo each other every year, competing with their boat themes. The West boat, loaded with ten children and ten adults in hula skirts, straw hats, and pineapple drinks, cruised through the waters with their entire boat dressed in grass skirts, bellowing out tropical music. The Joe Clancy family featured the Olympic logo fashioned from hula hoops, a torch made from a blower, and their grandchildren dressed as different Olympic sports competitors. The Bill West boat, decorated by Robyn West Turpin and friends, was declared the winner and was presented the Loon flag for 2021 from last year’s winners, and the Clancy family vowed to win next year.

The lake lit up at night with the multiple fireworks from each end of the lake. My husband and I joined his brother Mike Baker, nephews Max and Mike Jr., families and friends for a rousing concert on their deck, followed by great fireworks from their neighbors. (I keep hinting we should have a Loon-A-Palooza concert series from the docks on the 4th with bands staged around the lake.) The kids toasted marshmallows, made paper fans to keep themselves cool, and clapped in delight for the fireworks while dogs hid and howled. It was a perfect night of tradition with family and friends.

Camp Envy–Celebrating the 4th and Family

Published on by Kathy Baker

There is no place more special than the 4th of July on a lake, but ours was double the special this year with the addition of a new family member. Our firstborn son Kyle, wife Liz, and foster son arrived on the 26th of June. As they picked up their luggage and hopped in the car to head north, they opened the email announcing that their foster son was now their officially adopted son! What better place to celebrate than Camp Maqua, the place that holds so many memories for his new parents! (Kyle was eight when we bought the lodge and he and Liz were married at Maqua.)

I painted a chair with his new name, Flynn Troy Baker, which is a tradition I started at the birth of each new grandchild. I hand-painted a sign announcing the days in foster care and the date of his official adoption. Let the celebrations begin!. Liz and Kyle’s friends in Tampa pitched in for the most wonderful gift to honor this special time. A local photographer showed up for a photoshoot of the new family by the lake, and he was all smiles, hamming it up for the camera with bribes of gummy worms and bubbles for his efforts.

With jobs furloughed, on hold, and in transition, the new family decided to stay an extra week. We have had record heat, but low humidity and warm lake temperatures. Loon Lake comes alive for the holiday week, but more so this year with the isolation factor still looming over the country. Everyone wants to get outside and the shores and lake were filled with boats, floats, jet-skis, kayaks, tubers, and skiers.

We had our annual boat parade, with twenty boats participating this year. We have already captured a Loon Lake parade flag for our win a few years ago, so we decorated for Flynn, but not competitively. With an under the sea theme, complete with balloons, sharks, dolphins, and a shark bubble blowing machine, operated by Flynn in a shark hat, we set off in the stream of great themes. A Michigan/ Michigan State boat, with kids dressed in mini cheerleader and football uniforms and a goal post at the front of their boat; a double-decker pontoon with a dozen kids in troll headdresses, and rainbow balloon decor; patriotic themes and flags galore paraded for the spectators onshore. The winner was a college kids’ entry of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The week has been a series of festivities with family picnics outdoors, fishing, loon spotting, tubing, jumping off the top of the “Mothership”, campfires and a night on the water under a full moon watching the fireworks. Memories have been made to last a lifetime, and the next generation with the grandchildren guarantees that the summers will hold more memories as they all grow up together, despite the distances between the families during the winters. Summers on Loon Lake, holding fast to family traditions, are the best.

Camp Envy/Out of Isolation 2020

Published on by Kathy Baker

Michigan is finally opening their doors after long months of quarantine from Covid-19. The beautiful spring flowers seem to be celebrating by opening their blooms and showing us all is well. Social distancing and masks still seem to be the norm, especially for the small family businesses in Hale, but I feel fortunate to enjoy two rural areas to call home, with fewer cases of the virus.

Our kids and grandkids had it the roughest, teaching and working from home, plus agonizing through two successful emergency surgeries for one family. With all the time at home eating up vacation time and loss of income, we won’t have the same amount of family visiting this summer. Our eldest grandson, Keegan, drove up with us to help open up and begin the first of many projects with my husband. A new clapboard ceiling is being installed after a leak on our roof ruined our previous installation. (The porch has an addition from the original to accommodate all the historical tables and benches for our entertaining.)

Our Adirondack chairs, that survived a few Florida hurricanes, received a new coat of paint, but my favorites are the old heavy metal lawn chairs. Years ago I had them sandblasted and powder coated, and they look like new. Does anyone remember them at camp? They were beige and rusting and looked beyond repair, but these heavy chairs are great on the lawn. We sit out there at twilight until the mosquitoes chase us inside.

Our campfires and outdoor seating areas will be the new summer meeting spots. The residents of Maqua are predominately retired folks with underlying conditions and our hearts want to hug and socialize, but our heads know that if we want to keep ourselves and family visitors safe, we need to continue to distance. The original spot for the campfire pit is the most used, but my sons built a small one for us on the lodge lawn, so young mothers could hear their toddlers inside and still enjoy a campfire.

Thank heavens for our pontoon boats, where we can dock side by side, converse and float on Loon Lake, We have one baby Loon to watch this summer, but the resident Eagle enjoys tormenting Mama and baby. Our boat was in for new upholstery, console and motor, but the businesses are just opening up and work loads are heavy, so we are praying it is here before our son and family arrives for the July 4th festivities and boat parade. The highlight of every sunset cruise is spotting the Loons, but we pray the geese don’t stop and “drop” on our decks.

Clean-up of the surrounding property is a never-ending project, but beach and boathouse area are all weeded. The lake had a high water level this past winter, so erosion is evident, and it’s pine pollen season, so there is a fine yellow powder dusting on everything. It is nice to sit on our boats and deck area and watch life go by, but many of our porches are still under tarps until the pollen eases. To all the previous campers and staff, we wish you a happy summer outside!

Camp Envy–Traditions

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

 

 

 

 

The evolution of the new Maqua traditions began with the previous owners, Bob and Luanne Sukenik. Their hot dog and champagne cook-outs, with a Native Indian theme, hosted many friends and family members with water relay races and games. (One year they invited us, long before we bought the lodge and property. Bob started talking to me in the grocery line and invited my husband and me out to their “camp”.  (This photo was of that very day in 1984 on the shores of Camp Maqua with my husband Bill and Uncle Aaron Starks.) For years our association meetings, held in September, continued the hot dog and champagne tradition on the lodge porch following our meeting.

What is summer without a campfire, and we have had many! The fire-bowl or campfire pit, rimmed in huge boulders, appears to be in the same spot as decades ago. Our pile of wood is artistically stacked by one of our wood-chopping residents and we have never run out of logs for our fires. The usual activities take place under the stars overlooking the lake—adult beverages, hot-dog roasting late at night on long pronged forks and the traditional S’Mores for little and big kids alike. We sit in comfy chairs instead of sitting on logs, but the ambiance is traditional and ageless.

The Independence Day traditions include our annual potluck at the beach with our residents, and if it is raining we gather on the east roadside screened porch at the lodge. (We expanded the porch years ago to accommodate five vintage camp dining tables and the original bootstrap benches.) Other traditions in the past have included naming the baby Loon contest at our festivities and decorating the beachfront.

The most fun in recent years has been the boat parades, usually on the Saturday closest to the 4th. The Loon Lake Association purchases a boat flag with a loon and the date to be given as the prize for the best-decorated boat. Some years the weather has prevented many from participating, but each year a handful of families go all out to get into the spirit. Last year our family boat won with the Teddy Bear’s Picnic theme, so we were the judges this year. My eight-year-old granddaughter was so sad not to be here for the judging, so she was number twelve with the decision by viewing photos taken and sent via phone.

One boat was filled with cousins dressed as firecrackers and a patriotic theme, complete with music. One double-decker was the movie theme “Frozen” and nine kids were dressed in costumes as the characters. It was such a difficult decision, but the winner was a bubble bath theme boat, decorated with white balloons and friends taking showers. We hated to see the disappointed faces of the losers, but there is always next year!

Walking the trails in the autumn or cross-country skiing in the winter is a favorite with all the residents. The trails are usually mowed after the mosquitoes are no longer a problem, and residents have named their trails with wooden signs. We walk the roadside with family and friends to the main gate and pick flowers with our grandchildren during the summer, but when the black flies and deer flies appear, we have to cover up to avoid the bites or run!

Sunset cruises never get old and we all have so many photos of the spectacular skies over Loon Lake. One neighbor races out to the cove at the far end of the lake and parks his double-decker boat, expressing his amazement as if he had never seen a sunset before, but we all love the slow cruises and try to spot the family of loons or the resident eagles. Sunrises are a specialty for one of our early-bird residents, who tries to compete with a friend’s photos.

One of the most fun summer traditions happens with the adults and kids when we hook our boats together.  Each boat has appetizers to share. If the gates are opened, it makes it easy to walk from boat to boat to boat, catching up with our friends and sharing food. The night parties sometimes include adult beverages, music, and dancing on top of the Mother Ship–the  doubledecker!

 

 

 

Camp Envy–The Next Generation

Published on by Kathy Baker

Spring has thawed the ice on the lake and our photographic friend, Carole Elizabeth Wilson, is famous for getting up early for her daily sunrise photo to share. She is the weather girl on the lake, letting us all know when the loons are out or nesting, what the temps. are and what incredible sunrises and sunsets we enjoy. I am in Florida awaiting the journey north to escape the Florida heat and humidity that is just around the corner.

This year our summer home is even more meaningful to us, after selling our home of 38 years with all its memories tucked in each corner. The house was built with love by an uncle of my husband, who is from Hale, and his brother, who was my husband’s father. Various family members helped to build this first home we ever owned, and a Hale stonemason created the Michigan fieldstone fireplace that held our many stockings at Christmas and even a few fires!

Our four children had mixed feelings about the sale of the home they grew up in but had one thing to say. “Do not ever sell the lodge!” For all the memories that were stored in their childhood home, none could compare to their relaxing and carefree summers on Loon Lake. It is where they learned to ski, build campfires, play in treehouses, hike trails, and enjoy the out of doors. Their happy times included making new summer friendships, driving the boat, fishing, catching fireflies and camping in the bunkhouse next to the lodge with their cousins. For all of you who camped and worked here, those were memories that are relatable.

This summer the entire family will gather in July and for the first time ever we hope to have every one of our children, spouses, and grandchildren all in one place. It will be a new experience for this growing family, who we manage to see on a regular basis, but not as a huge unit. With the new loft and extra space, we have room for everyone on the east side. The importance of the lodge as a gathering place will be cemented by the new memories made by the next generations.

With our life in transition and retirement just around the corner, the lodge gives us a sense of permanence and a place for future projects and reunions. It will always be our summer happy place. Our hearts remain in Florida where our children were born and raised, but our Michigan souls remain at Maqua. As the blogs come to an end in June, the transition of this website will turn to stories from the existing residents and perhaps a laugh or two. Thank you for all your special memories that have helped to keep the history of this magical place alive.