July 4^th is a special day at camp.

Everything is a little different this day.

We start with an all-camp flag-raising. Normally, the boys and girls meet separately, but today, we all came together. One of our talented 10^th graders played the Star-Spangled Banner on his trumpet as we sang along. The photo at the start of this article is from that event.

Even Lola Ma’am got into the act.

Susie Ma’am dressed both Dodger Ma’am and me.

The camp is festooned with red, white and blue.   Many campers are wearing special outfits, as are the counselors.

I love the fact that many of the most enthusiastic people are our non-American counselors and campers. We go out of our way to stress that we are celebrating this day together and that everyone is a part of the festivities.

During the morning, we gave campers the chance to choose where they wanted to go, from their favorite activities to some inflatables that we rented just for the day. In the afternoon, we had a beach party with even more inflatables.

We had a foam pit this year.

Some campers hurriedly tried everything while others just sat happily with friends and chatted.

Dinner was hamburgers and hot dogs and a patriotic cake.

After dinner, we had a County Fair, complete with 12 stations for the campers to choose from. Members of the leadership team participated in a hot dog eating contest.

At torchlight, we had a brief re-enactment of the Revolutionary War with a handful of UK counselors and US counselors. At the end, we asked the UK counselors to sing “Rule Britannia”. It was great silly fun.

We concluded the evening with a very impressive 20-minute fireworks display. We have a direct relationship with a major pyrotechnic vendor, so we are able to put on a display that truly impresses.

In short, everyone from all countries had a great time celebrating US Independence Day.

We hope you had a wonderful 4^th as well!

Steve Sir