New Jersey Camp

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Photos and Articles by Matt Lurrie

Every July 4th, Campus Kids holds its annual carnival.  This year, festivities could be found on the fields behind Anderson Hall.  After much preparation by bunk groups and staff, and after announcements, which were held a mere few feet away from where the carnival was to take place, the carnival went underway.

There was a mad rush as the crowds of campers hurried to their booths, and the booths of their friends.

Each booth was set up, organized, and run by each bunk groups.  In all, 23 bunk groups made 23 separate booths.  Themes of bunk groups ranged.  At the Marshmallow Fluff make out booth, contestants lined up on either side of a piece of Plexiglas and tried to lick the marshmallow fluff off of their side before their opponent could do so.  At the dating game booth, you were blindfolded and put to a series of questions.  At the Marriage Booth, you could get married to your friend, counselor, or significant other, with gender not being an issue.  Each wedding certificate read: "By the power vested in Campus Kids, on this day, July fourth, of the year two thousand and six, we now pronounce (name) and (name) Husband and Wife, Husband and Husband, or Wife and Wife.  You may not kiss the bride, because that would not be PG-13".  At the Coke-Pepsi Challenge, closed-eyed campers were put to the test to see which soft drink truly reigned supreme.  At the doughnut eating contest, the name leaves little to the imagination-contestants lay on their backs and attempted to eat a doughnut off of a string before their opponents, lying shoulder to shoulder, did.  And at another booth, blindfolded contestants (a popular theme due to the fact that since the reunion of 2004, there were a massive amount of extra bandanas which the camp has taken full advantage of) felt inside mystery boxes to figure out what was inside.  Jell-o was an easy one to guess, but surprisingly, grass was not.

The list of booths goes on.  Because the amount of text needed to convey each group in full would overload our system, and probably the world wide web, I will describe only a few.  There was the balloon popping booth, where sharp darts were thrown at a wooden board with balloons tacked to it.  There was the hairstyling booth, where you could get braids, clips, etc.  There was the pseudo-horse racing booth, where a roll of dice would determine the amount of spaces your horse would go.  And finally, there was the fortune telling booth.  Instead of Tarot cards, campers used ordinary playing cards, and had responses to each card.

Perhaps the most interesting and entertaining booth to be a spectator at was the kissing booth.  One by one, different groups of people, be they girls, boys, campers, or staff, sat in a line of six chairs and was given a number.  Then, someone would come up to the moderator and chose a number out of a stylishly decorated brown bubble mailer.  Some people volunteered themselves, other had to be carried to the booth.  There were some odd match-ups, and there were some chairs broken.  Certain people did things differently; the norm was a quick peck on the cheek.  Nurse Allen, like a gentleman, kissed Andy’s hand.  Our camp director Tom gave David a long awaited hug. And while a kiss was taking place to her right, Teri became the victim of Jack and Andy’s water rage.  The aftermath was quite similar to what happened to everyone later in the day after a downpour.

As with many events at Campus Kids, be it Carnival, Cater World, etc., somehow thing seem to end up in mess.  But not a bad mess. This time, it was mini food fights.  It was not one the likes of Animal House, in which one person screams "Food fight!", but rather, a series of individual ones.

One other popular booth that seemed to attract crowds was the sumo wrestling booth.  With pillows stuffed under shirts, the first to be pinned down on the cushioned mats or pushed out of the ring lost.

The feature match up was between Villani and Zafer, former co-counselors and current "best buddies".  It took some encouraging on the part of Villani.  "I don't want to hurt you, buddy," mocked Zafer.  Finally, he was convinced, and the match was underway.

With the crowd ready, the match was underway.

There were some disputed calls...

And a few disputed moves...

And a lot of trash talking on both sides...

                                              

                                             It was Villani coming out on top.  But here at Campus Kids, everyone's a winner.

And kitchen staff, who provided popcorn, snow cones, cotton candy, and the BBQ lunch, the carnival was a success.

And for those organizing it, a tiring, but successful day.                                       

And the carnival had wonderful weather, which was directly preceded by a violent thunder storm, which this reporter witnessed from inside the gymnastics tent.