Camp Waupaca 4^th of July

Fourth of July 2017 Legend Lake, a lot like Camp Waupaca's outstanding celebrations.

Friday Lot 15 Blue Heron Court a neighbor was the first to blow off a BIG BOOMER. Without unloading at approximately 2:30 PM an early arrival jumped out of his car and set off a charge that would have shaken the cabins of Camp Waupaca like an earth quake. Manny would have been proud.

So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday from dusk to 11:00 PM, the sounds of a great battle shook the lake. This brought back long dormant memories of my days on active army training. The artillery was behind the battle lines. The mortars were left and right. The enemy (cardboard cutouts of soldiers) faced our infantry lines across an open plane. On a signal the artillery and mortars opened up on some recked car bodies behind the enemy lines. The alpha squad moved forward with cover fire with live ammunition from the beta squad. Back in forth the alpha and beta squads exchanged giving cover fire as the entire line moved forward. Once the cardboard enemy was reached the practice was over. The unit's score was the number of holes in the cardboard targets. Units that scored poorly had to repeat the drill until they gained proficiency

If any kind of proficiency was expected from the fireworks this year it took a lot of steady practice.

Early Fourth of July celebrations at Camp Waupaca were modest. A few firecrackers thrown from the raft by chosen counselors topped off by a very few rockets that showered a few sparks. A couple of times there was a rifle solute by expert camp rifle students. The extra loud 22 blanks made more of a puff than a bang. When they all worked the flag was raised and lowered with 21 shots that sounded as one.

One Fourth of July there was a large pile of brush in the field that would become part of the golf course. A gallon of gas mixed with used oil doused a corner of the pile. With all the campers in attendance a flare was tossed onto the fuel-soaked part of the pile. A huge flash and the brush was ablaze. Standing by was the Camp Waupaca Fire Truck, well actually a trailer with a 300-gallon tank of water equipped with a water pump and a hose. Campers were more impressed with the s’mores they made when the flames turned to coals.

Then Wally Tomchek riding on a sleek black horse came in for the rescue shouting that the “British are coming”. He waved his tri-corner hat and his tails of the blue uniform coat flapping it was a sight to behold. Of course the British never did come, but a horse galloping though the camp was nice way to announce to the camp it was the Fourth of July. Paul Warshauer, Craig Fuller, and George Lamm also played the role of Paul Revere over time.

Wally also co-authored a short play that was a standard Fourth of July tradition for a few years. It was a comedy about a Revolutionary War Soldier. Most years the soldier sat on a stump and grumbled his way to the victory at the Cow Pens.

The big fireworks started when Mike Euer came to camp each year with a van full of lady fingers, M80's, rockets that banged, rockets that burst into a shower of colorful sparks, and sometimes a fire fountain. The shows were specular. The selection came straight from the fireworks maker to a religious camp with poor children from the city. Oh, the joy that the makers must have felt to be giving a moment of joy to children whose lives were blighted by poverty. The pictures of the campers on Hobo Day with torn clothes and charcoal smudged faces must have opened their hearts.

Camp Waupaca's great Fourth of July shows are long past, but a mystery still lingers. Why didn't the M80's dropped from the dock ever bring any fish to the surface?