Dear Parents, Campers, Staff, Alums, & Friends,
And so our long run of months spent in the Northwoods is finally coming to an end. These past weeks have been truly wonderful, as we’ve enjoyed a September with ideal weather, and lots of fun. We’re certainly looking forward to returning to Tucson this month, and we feel lucky to be able 
to spend time in both of these beautiful parts of the country. It seems, though, that over the course of more than 30 summers spent in this wooded wonderland up here, we’ve really grown attached to the physical surroundings at camp. The lake, the forest, the fields, the wildlife, the wide open space, the piney air….all of it. In these 30+ years, we’ve lived in 4 different “off-season” houses in two different cities, and while we’ve enjoyed them all, the constant of returning to camp each summer has made us feel most grounded when we’re here. So it’s a little hard to leave. Then again…we’ll be back in about 7 or 8 months, so we’ll stop whining now.
Our ability to stay at camp this long also gave us the opportunity to spend more time with local friends we’ve made, and participate in the festival of festivals that Minocqua has to offer….Beef-A-Rama! It is – as the name suggests – a celebration of beef, but it’s also much more. From Torpy Park through Main Street, the roads are closed to vehicle traffic, and a huge party pours out onto the street of downtown. There are bands playing, there’s a parade, a craft fair at the park, and up and down the street people have set up little tents and they roast copious amounts of beef. No kidding! There is a judging of the best beef, and throughout the day there are roast beef sandwiches, beverages, and lots of very happy people (though probably not vegetarians). For some this is also a celebration of the end of another successful summer season of tourism. Either way, it was a lot of fun, and we’re so happy we were able to enjoy it. Just one week prior to Beef-A-Rama was the Fall Ride, which was a motorcycle festival in Minocqua and surrounding towns. By some estimates, more than 40,000 bikers (mostly on Harleys) descended upon the Northwoods. You couldn’t really hear it in camp, but once we got out to the main highway, it was pretty loud for a few days.
Here in camp, we’ve had multiple projects already started. The Jones’ Cabana has a new roof, and soon so will Arapaho Cabin. The Boat House – a 75+ year old ice house built into the shoreline bank of our lake – is in need of some repair, so that’s being worked on. There are other small projects on the books too, but it’s time we share with you the big project we’re undertaking for next summer.
As we speak, some trees are being cleared, and by the end of this month the basketball courts will be torn up completely…all the way down to bare ground. And, by the time you all get here next summer, we will have two beautiful new basketball courts! The new courts will be regulation high school dimensions (hence the removal of some trees on the side to make the courts about 10’ wider). They will have a true 3 point line, a perimeter line with a few feet of space on the outside, and brand new top-of-the-line poles, backboards, and rims. The folks installing these courts promise us the rims will not wobble! We’ll also put in brand new lighting for the main basketball court. It’s not often we need the lights, since it stays light so late here in the summer, but if we need ‘em, we’ll have ‘em. We can’t wait to see the courts when they’re done, but even more, we can’t wait to see you guys playing on them!!
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We are just cookin! We’re so pleased with the great feedback we’ve received from parents and campers regarding last summer, and that is translating into amazing enthusiasm for the upcoming summer. Check it out! Welcome back to the following “old-timers” who have re-enrolled in the last month: SAM FRISHMAN of Buffalo Grove, IL; SIMON KANOVITZ, JOSH MEYER, and JARED SAEF of Chicago, IL; AIDAN MEASE of Tucson, AZ; EMERSON CORONEL, CHARLIE LOVETT, and JAMES LOVETT of Los Angeles, CA; MYLES BRODSKY, SPENCER FARBER, SETH FISH, ETHAN & JARED LETWAT, and BEN & DREW SPIEGEL of Deerfield, IL; ZACHARY LISS of Kansas City, MO; JAVVY VALLEJO-MCCANN and ZAVION STEELE of Cleveland, OH; CALEB & JONAH GERSTEIN of Evanston, IL; NOAH GOLDBLATT, COLIN GOTTSHALL, and EVAN GROSS of Glencoe, IL; GRAHAM & MAX ELLIOT and CONNOR O’NEIL of Nashville, TN; GABE FELDMAN, DAVID FRIEDLAND, ARI & BEN KADEN, and JOEY ROSENBLUM of Highland Park, IL; ETHAN & TYLER DEUTSCH, JACK KAHN, TYLER & ZACH NEWMARK, and OWEN TAYLOR of St. Louis, MO; EVAN WALDMAN of Northbrook, IL; GABE NEWMAN and DOX & LEVI RASKIN of Oak Park, IL; JOEY SALIT of Mundelein, IL; AIDAN FELDMAN of Houston, TX; and COLE KAPLAN and PETER FINK of Atlanta, GA. Welcome aboard to the following first-year campers who will join us this summer: ELI & JOSH KATZ and ELI OKUM of Beverly Hills, CA; DYLAN & RYAN TEITELBAUM of Deerfield, IL; DREW LISS of Kansas City, MO; ARI COPLON of Houston, TX; and ELI GOLDBLATT of Glencoe, IL. We’re happy to have you all with us! |
We have several reunions on the calendar now, and more to add in the coming weeks. We mail and/or email you long before the date with all the details, and send you a reminder the week before. We sure want to spend time with all of you this “off-season.”
| CITY | DATE | TIME |
| Nashville | Saturday, October 31st (Boo!) | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Chicago | Saturday, November 7th | 12:00 – 3:30 PM |
| Milwaukee | Sunday, November 8th | 7:00 – 8:30 PM |
| St. Louis | Sunday, November 15th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Houston | Saturday, December 5th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Dallas | Saturday, December 12th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
| Los Angeles | Saturday, November 9th | 2:00 – 4:00 PM |
YO PARENTS: We don’t have much info for you this month, other than a reminder that booking your son’s doctor’s appointment NOW may save you many hassles come spring. We suggest you do that. We have been working with our medical records partner, CampDoc.com, to simplify and speed up the whole online records process for you. And we’re revamping our medication policy as well. We think you’ll be happy with the changes. More info on that will come your way in future months.
  Thanks to everyone who sent us a bit of information we can share. That wasn’t so hard, was it? We’d love to have more, so please keep us informed. In St. Louis, ADAM POGER and DEVON BIERMAN got together and went waterskiing at the Lake of the Ozarks one weekend last month. And Bar Mitzvah congrats to Adam who celebrated last month. SAM FRISHMAN traveled from Chicago to St. Louis and hung out with JOSH ETTINGER and TYLER NEWMARK. Sam made his high school’s JV hockey team as a freshman this year. Elsewhere in Chicago, JOEY ROSENBLUM made his high school’s cross country team. SPENCER FARBER is running cross country on his school’s 6th grade team. AJ STEWART is playing travel soccer, got his braces off, and is launching rockets, including one he made at camp. GABE NEWMAN has been playing golf and tennis, and is looking forward to a family trip to Costa Rica this winter. Bar Mitzvah congrats to NOAH FOSTER who will celebrate this month. |
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 JAKE REUTER spent the last month cruising around South American climbing and skiing and avoiding a major earth quake. He’s back now and in Chicago visiting with new families and handling lots of camp office work.  HITCH & CORRIE HITCHENS (and Carter and Liam) played host last month to KEGHAN CONNOR and ERIK HOTALING who were in Denver visiting. BRIAN STRAIN traveled from Denver to Chicago to meet up with some camp folks and take in the Zac Brown show. Our perennial Disney host, JEFF “MEL” MELROSE showed RICHARD STRINGER, and “old-timers” JOEY PAWLAN and COLBY SHARLIN around the Magic Kingdom last month. ANNA WILKE is back in nursing school and applied for a volunteer position at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. BRITTANY BOLING just wrapped up a west coast road trip, and is back in Utah. KAREN MCKELVEY has been on a road trip as well, covering the Midwest, out in North Carolina, and spending some time in Adirondack and Acadia National Parks. She’s been enjoying the fall colors. ELLEN SCHARFENBERG is the president of the UW-Stout art Ed branch of the National Art Educators Association. In one of her classes about motivating students, they discussed the work of Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset. And Ellen was ahead of the curve since we dove into that concept during staff training! |
BRAVO TO OUR OCTOBER BIRTHDAY BOYS & GIRLS: Brittany Boling - 10/1/1993, Matthew Kallmeyer - 10/1/2003, Ilan Reiss - 10/2/2003, Jono Rosenblum - 10/5/1998, Jonah Hoffman - 10/6/1998, Kathy Leverton - 10/7/1984, Emerson Coronel - 10/8/2003, Andrew Kerpel - 10/8/2002, Jared Saef - 10/8/2000, Gabe Feldman - 10/10/2005, Ryan Teitelbaum - 10/10/2003, Josh Ettinger - 10/13/2000, Lucas Gottshall - 10/13/1999, Henry Alford - 10/15/1999, William Coovert - 10/15/2002, Caleb Parchman - 10/15/1991, Ben Litman - 10/17/2001, Spencer Farber - 10/18/2003, Zach Newmark - 10/18/2004, Ethan Schwartz - 10/18/2001, Dox Raskin - 10/19/2003, Gil Ron - 10/19/2004, Jonah Samson - 10/19/2004, Jack Barlow - 10/20/1998, Nick Pappas - 10/20/1998, Ethan Teich - 10/21/1999, Eli Tenenbaum - 10/21/2004, Peter Fink - 10/25/2004, Jack Kahn - 10/25/2001, Seth Berk - 10/28/2003, Ross Krulisky - 10/28/1995, Alec Schlossberg - 10/28/2004, Garrett Glover - 10/29/1998.
Have a safe and fun Halloween (Nashville guys…we’ll see you that day!), and a fantastic October everyone. We’ll write to you again next month.
Benches up,
