8/21/2013 8:05:00 AM
Celebrating 93 years, Camp Agawak hosts reunion weekend
Alumni campers of all generations gather and share memories

One hundred-twenty alumni campers, spanning from the 1940s to present day, traveled from across the country and world back to Camp Agawak for a reunion Aug. 15-18.

“For me as a director, it was special seeing so many generations come together because of a common thread – the love of their beloved Camp Agawak,” Mary Fried, Camp Agawak director, said. “I witnessed them bridging generations. I witnessed them sharing in common Agawak traditions and I saw them giving rebirth to lost traditions. It was moving and extremely powerful.”

The weekend was one of nostalgia at Camp Agawak.

“This place made us who we are – caring, compassionate as well as competitive and strong ... I am overwhelmed with the memory of a simpler time, a simpler place, a simpler world,” Margie Schaye, camper from 1964-70 said. Schaye traveled from London to attend the reunion, but is originally from Chicago.

“I feel like I never left. Literally, the moment I stepped here, you know where everything is and you just feel like you never left. This weekend I feel like a camper again,” Jill Barzilay of Florida said. Barzilay spent her summers at Camp Agawak from 1995-2009 as a camper for six years, counselor for six years, and worked in the office for two years.

For many, Camp Agawak was a tradition passed down through the family. That’s how it was for Nancy Borzak of Chicago, who spent her summers at Camp Agawak from 1954-63.
“My mother came to camp ... She is 92 years old and still quite alive and well, but didn’t feel like she could handle the physical parts of this, but she was an Agawak girl,” Borzak said. “And her two granddaughters, my brother’s girls, were both campers for years. And at the time I was here, I had four cousins here, too.”

Camp through the 60s
From the camp’s inception in 1921 to present day, there have been expansions and updates, but the core of Camp Agawak remains.

“There have been lots of physical changes and new traditions, but the spirit of Agawak has been preserved and has grown. It is alive in each person who has been fortunate enough to be a part of camp,” Schaye said.

Another aspect that has never changed for campers is that Camp Agawak is an escape from city living.

“It was getting out of Chicago in the summers and having this amazing place,” Borzak said. “I never, ever looked back. When we came to camp in 1954, there was no option for staying half a summer – you came for eight weeks. I used to pretend to cry when my parents left because everyone else went through these crying scenes ... I never cried. I was thrilled.”

But in its early years, there was no electricity and many of the cabins didn’t have a toilet.
“When we were kids, only the first five cabins had a toilet in them. We all had cold water sinks, there were no lights – there was nothing,” Borzak said.

While only a few of the cabins had toilets, even fewer had showers or bathtubs.
“For bathing, we had ‘scrub,’ and you went down to the lake with your bar of soap, which was really more convenient to have it around your neck on a rope or else it would have to be Ivory soap so it floated. And once a week we were sent down to wash our hair, which we did with Luster Creme Shampoo. I don’t think they make that anymore, but it was the popular shampoo at the time,” Joan Lieb said. Lieb was a camper for several years, beginning in 1944.

During scrub, the campers had plenty of privacy.
“There were no speedboats on the lake, there were no motors on the lake. We saw no houses. Occasionally you saw a rowboat and some man might be fishing. You never really saw people,” Lieb said.

Though there were little to no interruptions from boaters or fishermen, campers would occasionally be visited by a specific animal.

“They had horses when I was here. Twice a day they would let out the horses, and the horses would run down the hill from the corral to the lake and drink, every morning and every evening. And sometimes we were in scrub taking our bath when the horses would come running down. They knew where to go, and they would only be a few yards from where we were to drink,” Lieb said.

Like bathing, laundry was handled differently in the 1940s.
“We sent our laundry home every week. How they managed this, I don’t know,” Lieb said. “You sent home all of your laundry, and you had it back the next week. You sent your sheets, towels, and all your clothes except your socks. You went down to the lake with a bucket and a washboard and you washed your socks, and the rest of your laundry came back miraculously. Nobody ever didn’t get their laundry box back.”

Today laundry is sent to Rhinelander on a Sunday night and comes back Monday night clean.
“Can you imagine, they had to take down 80 or 90 laundry boxes to the Post Office and pick them up a week later?” Lieb said.

But one of Lieb’s first memories at Camp Agawak is a historical one.
“1945, VJ Day – Victory over Japan day,” she said. “They rang the bell sometime in the morning, and everyone was told to come to the flag pole, and they announced that the war was over.”

Camp to present day
Some of the current amenities that may be taken for granted today were monumental changes at Camp Agawak, including the advent of electricity.

“We just had one toilet in the corner and a sink in the middle [per cabin]. Now they have a mirror and two sinks, and a separate area. And no electricity, that was a huge difference. No fan, and the beds were different. Everything was different,” Karyn Karlin of Chicago said. Karlin was a camper from 1973-76.

“[Camp Agawak] has changed tremendously. It’s still beautiful, but there’s fans and electricity and there’s bathrooms in the cabins,” she added.

Another changed aspect is the campers’ attire.
“We always wore uniforms – blue shirts, blue shorts, white shirts at dinner,” Karlin said. “Now my daughter wears her bikini around camp.”

The camp tradition of capture the flag remains, but it’s changed slightly since the late 90s, early 2000s. Originally it was played with the camp road as the dividing line, with the white team on one side and the blue team on the other.

“So many people would get hurt running up and down this hill with the trees and the roots everywhere, that at some point they ended capture the flag on campus as we know it and now we go play it at an empty football field at one of the area high schools,” Barzilay said.

Reunion weekend
Three events made up the highlights of the weekend, Fried described – the campfire key-log ceremony, the Blue and White Gonzo Relay and the final banquet.

“During our campfire, there was not a dry eye to be found as old and new campers threw their key-logs [small pieces of wood] into the fire and spoke about their love for Camp Agawak,” Fried said. “They spoke eloquently about how Agawak made them into the people they are today and molded their character. They spoke about the friendships made and endured and the life lessons they learned on the shores of Blue Lake.”

And the Gonzo Relay was a tip of the hat to the camp’s blue and white teams.
“When a camper first comes to camp as a young child, they are placed on a team [blue or white]. They are forever on that team,” Fried explained.

“I truly enjoyed watching the energy and spirit generated by this competition. It was evident that no matter the age of the reunion camper, young or old, blue or white, they still love their colored team and always will,” Fried said. “From the swimming events, to the running events, to the war canoe races, to the mental challenge events, there was true competition in the air.”

The final banquet was held Saturday night, the last evening of the reunion.

“It was always a tradition that on the last night of camp a banquet was prepared, traditional solemn camp songs were sung, awards were given out and the blue team and the white team sang a goodbye song to each other,” Fried said. “Then after banquet every camper would take their wish boat made of birch bark, and light the candle on their wish boat. the wish boats were placed individually on Blue Lake and a wish was made. Then when everyone made their wish and was gathered on the shore, hand-in-hand they sing, ‘Friends, Friends.’”

All in all, the Camp Agawak reunion was an opportunity for alumni campers to relive summers from their youth for a weekend.

“So many of us commented that this is the place where we are, and were, truly the best we could be,” Schaye said. “Agawak helped make each of us who we are today, what we are, and is a part of what each of us has accomplished.”