75th Reunion Recap

Our 75th Reunion Celebration is in the history books now and it was successful beyond our wildest expectations. 500 alums joined us for the event which began just three days after the second term of camp ended. They stayed at The Nature Place, in the tents and yurts at Big Spring, in the cabins at High Trails and a significant number camped out in their own campers and tents. They came from coast to coast and from many eras of camp. There were campers/staff from the 1950’s and from 2023. They all had the same goal: to again experience CAMP!

And that is what we did! We hiked to Top of the World, Fishcreek, A-Bluff, and the Bat Caves. We rode horses across the entire 6,000 acres and mountain biked on our numerous trails. About 60 alums even got up very early to climb Fourteeners and were exhilarated by their accomplishments. Some participated in technical rock climbing and many alums experienced the new zipline at our high ropes course.

Families with children enjoyed activities at the Quick Homestead, at the Crystal Beds, at the Interbarn, and at the swimming pools. A number of alums joined Jerry at the Quick Homestead and the Witcher Ranch for popular lessons on the local history of the area. On Thursday night, we all met together for a welcome kick-off session which included lots of camp song singing, a slide show, and the always hilarious Surprise Melodrama. The Diamond Empire Band provided loud entertainment and fun dancing on Friday night—during the break, we auctioned off four original works of art created by alum artist Brink Messick especially for our 75 th anniversary. The Saturday night campfire again featured singing as well as campfire stories by Matthew Huffman, Andrew Jones, and Patrick Perry. The classic High Trails skit, Herman the Bear, even made an appearance.

And, of course, we ended with a Sunday Rocks service on Sunday morning, highlighted by special music from an ensemble organized by Annie Garretson. The weather was perfect throughout the event and everyone raved about the excellent meals created by our outstanding cooks. Our year-round staff and the 40 summer staff who remained to help with the reunion were energized by the connections made with our alums. We are incredibly grateful to all of the alums who made the journey to Florissant to help us celebrate!