Music, Food, Family and Friends Combine for a Great Camp Party

   To the sounds of country music and the smell of fresh food on the grill, parents began arriving as early as 7:15 this morning, ready to share in the excitement that was the 101st Pok-O-MacCready picnic.

     The real purpose of the day, of course, is for campers to reunite with their parents, grandparents and other relatives, and that they did in the form of hugs and smiles, followed by tours and a veritable show-and-tell of camp life.  “It was great to see how much our daughter missed us!” exclaimed parent Nancy Wagner, prompting one to speculate who missed whom the most.

     Visitors were treated to a Texas-style barbecue and an afternoon of fun at the swim and boat docks. For some parents, it was a trip down memory lane.  “It’s always great coming back here,” said David Shapiro, camper from 1970-77 and father to a MacCready camper.  “Jack (Swan) told me I was the most notorious camper ever, but I learned a lot here.”

     Following an afternoon out of camp, parents were required to have their child back at camp by 7:00.  “It was a fabulous day,” exuded Bob Ivey. “The food was terrific, the people were even nicer and it was great seeing my son (Spencer).”

     On tap for the evening: A counselor play designed to lift the campers spirits. On Sunday, camp immediately returns to its full, high-energy program with the Adirondack Horse Show and Paul Bunyan Day. And that just the warmup.  Monday marks the beginning of Pok-O’s biggest event:  Indian Days.

* Full Parents Day Photo Gallery coming up tomorrow on the web

A Trip Back in Time

    On Friday morning, 19 lucky campers got to experience life as it was in this region four hundred years ago.  With Indian Games just a few days off, the Chiefs, Sachems and Storytellers from the five Iroquois tribes made a visit to the Six Nations Museum in Onchiota, NY.

     “Indian Games is more then competition,” said games CO-coordinator Chris Durlacher. “It’s about history and the traditions of the Iroquois people.” At the museum, the campers listened to stories about Native American history and viewed a huge sampling of Iroquois artifacts.  “It was wonderful,” said Mohawk storyteller Benn Singer.  “They had lots of stuff that the Native Americans used.  Added Seneca Chief Collin McCullough:  “It was amazing how much stuff they were able to acquire and put into such a small room. Crazy!”

     There was fascination with the materials, and knowledge gained. “They had a lot of cool paintings. We learned all about clans and the structure of the Native American families,” said Mohawk Chief Tim Reagan

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