There were always a few days between sessions where the girls who attended more than one session “stayed over” and staff had time off. It was a good time to catch up on laundry, drive into Tawas, walk into town, or visit a friend’s nearby cabin.
Only twelve campers stayed over between the sessions and Alice Bishop noted that checkout was very orderly in 1961. Some stayed for the afternoon program, others went to the movies with counselors and a few went out with their parents for the evening.
There was a program set according to Dorthe Balaskas’ 1966 director’s report, which indicated eight or nine staff stayed to help, while others took twenty-four hours off. If they slept at camp, the usual rules applied for time in, boats and waterfront. The staff would have to be back by Sunday at noon for a staff meeting.
Barb Krohn (1970-72) stayed a whole month in her fourth year and slept in the lodge between sessions. “There were not too many of us who stayed, but we would go into town. One of the best parts about going every summer was seeing the same girls.”’
Meg Dahlem, who talked to me about her stay in 1925, thought it was a great treat to be able to walk into Hale for an ice cream during her free time. It was a tradition that continued as long as the camp operated. Penny Mitchell loved the same walks into Hale in the fifties, as did Jennifer Fenton for her favorite bubblegum flavor in the seventies!
“One day a bunch of us walked into Hale to go to the movies, which seemed like it took forever. The counselor had given us peaches to eat on the way in, “ said Judy Rowden (1949). “I loved the feel of that peach on my skin, so I rubbed the fuzzy peach on my cheek. Well, that was not too good, since I broke out. I guess I was allergic to peaches.”
Susie Utter, a fifties camper, idolized her counselor Jodi Tripp, who probably accompanied the girls in between sessions by truck to the movies in Hale. Sometimes the girls didn’t ride, but hiked in. Anne Shutt, Kathleen Clements and Cynthia Gregory convinced their parents to stay the entire month and on those “stayover” nights, they also recalled going to the movies in Hale in the sixties.
“Honestly, we could have all died, when I think of some of the things we did at camp,” laughed seventies camper Julie Bernard. “We stood up in the back of that old pick up truck singing all the way into Hale to get ice cream and do our laundry. That would never happen today.”
Karen Magidsohn recalled piling into the green truck in the sixties and heading to town for movies, but Rhonda Thayer, business manager for the camp in the seventies, remembered passing the girls walking into town in her parent’s nine- passenger station wagon.
“When I came back past them, all sweating, I would give them a ride, but I wasn’t supposed to do that with no insurance on my parent’s car to cover them. I could hear those girls on their days off singing the song “Help Me Rhonda” as they walked past my house.”
A car at camp was allowed and Linda Doering brought hers up in the late sixties, so she was able to drive to Tawas. Tricia Sautter (1968-70) would also head to Tawas on her days off with Chris Varney, recalling the day they shined the car headlights onto the sand to search for lost contacts.
Diane Dudley and Jan Schreiber also had family cottages that were escape spots for the counselors on their days off in the sixties. They could drink beer, smoke cigarettes or dig holes in the sand and make sand candles, as Jan and friends did one year to celebrate Christmas in July. It was a great way to get to know each other better without the responsibilities.
“As a staffer between sessions, my friends and I used to go to our cottage to get away from camp and play innocent pranks, but when we were at Maqua we were on Maqua time, “ said Chris Lambert (1958). “We chose not to go to Daylight Savings Time and the other world ceased to exist. It was handy when we came home one hour late from the movies.”
Did you stay over for sessions? What activities did you participate in during your stay?