WEEK 1
Cannon Report
Kaboom!
And Camp is out of the gate! 2025 is already one for the history books. Starting Camp this early in June only happens once every seventy years. In 1955 Major Huey was putting his mark on young men and the Warsaw Pact was being signed!
But June 15 is close enough to the summer solstice for the heavens to smile down upon us opening day! We welcome a great group of young men and kicked off the summer with a spirited Council Fire.
On Monday, despite the temps never rising above 50 degrees during PreCamp we saw sun and low 70’s temps for our Bar Exam swim test which allowed us to have fewer “non-swimmers” than we have in years. (Shout out to the parents that sprung for swimming lessons for their youngsters, and shout out to those Early Bird Counselors that swam right alongside the youngest campers to encourage them to prove their “Swim Safe” status!)
By Tuesday it felt like we were really in the groove with Camp. On Tuesday evening with fried chicken dinner at the Shallows we were proving our prowess at nomenclature. (That’s a fancy way of saying we worked hard to learn the names of everyone in Leelanau in the first 48 hours of Camp!)
Wednesday the skies were a little cloudy and began perspiring upon us at points, but it didn’t keep us from our productive learning at morning activities, nor dampen our Cabin Days all over Leelanau County. While it did chase us into the Leelanau Lodge for our church service that evening it did nothing to bedew our testimonies and sharing of gratitude.
Thursday was the first “business as usual” day of our summer! Morning activities. Sign-up at bowl afternoon activities. Beach Period. Evening Activities by section. And showers! (to clarify, we’ve been doing morning activities and showers every day – it’s the afternoon and evening activities that were previously a bit creative or outside the normal schedule.)
Friday, we celebrated the end of the week with our traditional Pizza and Milkshake dinner, followed by attending Beach Bards at the Leelanau School which is a great connection to our past and kindred friends. It also feels special to sit in the O.G. Council Fire spot on the beach with the Men of Leelanau once again.
The other special event on Friday was having our Day Campers spend the night in a cabin with us! They loved the chance to sleepover together, but didn’t love how loud their counselor was snoring!
On Saturday the “heat dome” settled over top of Leelanau County so we really threw out the “regular scheduled programming” and took the entire Camp down to Esch Rd. Beach. We took buckets of sunscreen and lunch along with us. With the sun, the waves, the sandy beach, Otter Creek rolling in, and a stiff southwest wind we couldn’t have been happier to play, play, play in the sun all morning and into the afternoon!
Sunday wrapped the week with a North-South Volleyball tournament. Did we mention – the beach is large enough to have a volleyball court again? What a genuine blessing to be living on the shores of Lake Michigan!
-From the Desk of HQ
