Camp Blog

“Oy Vey, We’re Here to Stay”

by: 
Camp Director

As I write this I am hearing the yelps of four teams competing in Agawak’s annual Olympic Day. This year the campers have been divided into the countries of New Zealand, Ireland, Israel and Madagascar.

The shout that is resounding very loudly now is a cheer from Team Israel, “Oy Vey, We’re Here To Stay”. That line that is being shouted over and over like a mantra seems to be the drumbeat of what I’ve been hearing around camp all season.


Many of the girls I have met, older campers and counselors, are in their 10th, 12th, even 15th summer here. This is only my 11th summer at Agawak, the last being in 1973 when I was the counselor in Cabin 15.

I remember the sad summer when I could no longer come to Camp Agawak because real life took over; college and job applications, then later marriage and motherhood. Yet the connection, the love, the pull toward this place never ends. I know this from my own heart and from my extended circle of friends in their fifties like me who still feel that their camp experience is a central part of who they are today.

Indeed, all of you Agawak alum parents reading this know that your time on the shores of Blue Lake has formed some of the finest parts of yourselves. And you know that the friends you made here are often your most enduring and meaningful friendships.

Your girls’ connection and passion for camp was incandescent during Mincoqua’s Fourth of July Parade. The highlight of that hour-and-a-half long procession through the town’s downtown was your girls, nearly 200 of them, dancing in synchrony, smiling the hugest smiles, their energy level infectious. Agawak marches in the parade every year.

I was an observer – ha! Maybe next year a dancer, too – and I heard lots of Mincoqua locals around me saying things like this: “Those Agawak girls are my favorite part of the parade.” One elderly woman standing next to me said to me: “I don’t know what you do at that camp but those girls are always so happy.”

What makes for happiness? Friendship. Support. Being engaged in activities and with each other. Fun and nurturing counselors. A lake that is mesmerizing in its tranquility and beauty. And finally, tradition and loyalty to a place in the Northwoods of Wisconsin that pulls your children back year after year.

It certainly pulled me back, 40 years after I thought I left for good. But, I feel like your own girls feel: “Oy Vey, We’re Here To Stay.”