The Autumn season at YMCA Camp WA WA Segowea!

It's autumn season here at camp and with that, the camp is just full of colors! The oak trees, the sugar maples and the birch trees are all shades of orange, red yellow and green making the 500 acres just amazing!  It was a great season here at camp and now we are counting the days till next summer when children can explore nature, make friends and just be kids for our 103rd year.  Way back in the early years of camp, the staff put together a little newsletter for camp.  Included in it were happenings at camp including where the camper cabins hiked that week, the latest swimming regatta results and sometimes some drawings as well.  Fast forward to today and the Smith Park board decided to resurrect the newsletter to keep its friends and members aware of what's happening in the offseason at camp.

We are very happy to present the return of The Firefly!

We can't have a new blog post without pictures, so here's some recent shots taken.

Some beautiful colors at camp!

                        The main lodge all closed up

See you at Camp!

We love Spring here at Camp Wa Wa Segowea!

It's May 5th and it seems like summer is already here at camp!  With temperatures in the 80s here this week, the trees have plenty of buds and the wildlife is coming alive after a long winter.  Spring has definitely sprung!  

In Springtime, there's plenty of events happening involving camp.  This past weekend we had our 2nd Annual Wa Wa Fish and Bait Fishing Derby as well as our first Open House of the season.  Both events came on the same day, Sunday and we couldn't have asked for better weather.  Parents and kids alike came out for the fishing derby and took pleasure in some great fishing!  All kinds of fish were being pulled in left and right and a fun time was had by all who attended.  They enjoyed a lunch of hot dogs and hamburgers provided by the American Legion.  

The Open House began at noontime with tours and conversations taking place.   Camp Director Randle Cassady and Camp Executive Director, Jay Cohen showed prospective campers around with help from some volunteers.  At the end of the day, we had kids register for that unique Wa Wa camp experience!  One returning alum (whose daughter will now attend camp) exclaimed that she was ecstatic that "camp was still camp"!  

Next up on the Spring event list is the 6th Annual 5k Race, the Wally Waddle!  Camp Alumni Josh and Lisa Perks have organized and run the race from Day 1 and it just keep getting better and better!  Thanks Josh and Lisa!  It will take place, as usual on Mother's Day, this coming Sunday, with race day registration beginning at 7:30 am at Vassar Farm in Poughkeepsie, NY.  Here's all the info-

6th Annual Wa Wa Wally Waddle 5k and Kids Runs.

Benefiting Camp Wa Wa Segowea Camper Scholarship Fund

Time: Sunday, May 10 · 9:00am - 12:00pm

Location: Vassar Farm Poughkeepsie, NY

• Race Day registration 7:30-9:30 am

• Kids 1 mile 9:30 am (free if you preregister $5 on race day)

• Kids Rugby Field Rush 100 yards 9:45 am (free)

• 5K Run/Walk 10:00 am ($20 preregistration $25 race day)

• Awarding of the Pies 11:00 am

• T-shirts to the 1st 200 Registered 5k runners

• Free games, face painting and balloon animals for the kids

• Register online here.  To find out more visit www.wallywaddle.org.

A huge Wa Wa thank you to all of this years race sponsors, we couldn't do this without you.

Silver Sponsors.

Mid-Hudson Oral Surgeons

Tubby's Bathroom Resurfacing

Morris Associates Engineering Consultants, PLLC

Adams Fairacre Farms

Mid-Hudson Road Runner's Club

Justin Feldman Physical Therapy

The Derby

Caffe Aurora 

Sign Sponsors

Eric's Fuel Service

WDST  

The weekend after the Wally Waddle, we'll turn our efforts to camp and our Work Weekend.  It will take place on May 16th and 17th and we definitely need some help.  There's at least 8 MAJOR projects and both manpower and materials are needed.  If you can spend any time on either day, please let us know- campwawasegowea@gmail.com

So what projects will we be working on?    Here's the list:

Outside Lodge Repairs

Pawnee Cabin leveling

Log replacement on the path to Seneca Cabin

New cable railing at the Overlook.

Replacement of electrical box covers

Setting new flag pole

Parade Field Drainage Improvements

Replacement of lodge and Dining Hall Lights

New Cabin Shutters

Staining and Spray foaming

Electrical work

Raymond roof repair

Repair Hart Lodge Porch

What materials will we need?

6-8 sacks of ready mix concrete

heavy duty house jacks

6-12 solid concrete blocks of various thickness 

LP Coated Cabling 1/4" bolts with eyes and cable hardware

Shovels, wheelbarrows

2-3 gallons of brown stain

2-3 cans of spray foam

2 lbs of roofing nails, 100' drip edging, 2 rolls of base coat and 2 rolls of cap coat

2-3 sheets of 3/8" plywood

5 sheets  of 3/8" marine grade plywood, 2 lbs 1.5" coated deck screws

If you can provide any of these, please let us know!  campwawasegowea@gmail.com

It will indeed be a very busy weekend!  Won't you come and help?

One bit of sad news.  The tree at the Outpost that held the rope swing was a victim of the bad winter. It was dead on the inside and fell over.  No word on whether it made any sound!

Here's some recent pictures of spring at camp as well as some Fishing Derby and Open House pics.

Hope to see you at camp!

It's Thanksgiving time at YMCA Camp Wa Wa Segowea!

It's November, and almost Thanksgiving and we've already seen our first snowfall at camp!  There's plenty of deer around as well as some wild turkeys, but it's mainly pretty quiet at Segowea these days. All the leaves have fallen and all will be waiting to be raked up next spring.  The lake isn't frozen yet, but we're sure it will be soon!

It's hard to believe that in a little over a month the new year will start!  Until the, we've just a few items to let you know about.

First we have the sad news of the passing of a camp fixture indeed, Lavergne "Vern" Gardner.  Vern was a long time member of the camp committee and was involved on the work weekends, going back to the 1960's.  The Gardner name itself is evident at camp on a couple of plaques.  Vern's dad,  Frank, has his name on the outside and the inside of the Nature Lodge (being used currently as the Arts & Crafts building).    So needless to say the Gardner name at camp is a treasured one!

Vern was honored back in March of 1986 as one of the "Segowea Fixtures".  Past president of the Smith Park Board, John Fisher said "Vern was a key figure of the camp board that hired me back in the fall of 1976. Vern was a real camp guy".

His camp committee days lasted until the mid-1990's and he handled the camp's insurance needs during that time.  We send our heartfelt sympathies out to the Gardner family at this time.   Here's a couple pictures with Vern, the first from a work weekend in 1961. (Vern is 3rd from the left)

This one below, is from 1975, on another work weekend.

and this one is from 1970, with Vern and Bob Gaddis digging out a ditch. (Vern, with the hat on)

It is the holiday season and that means it's time for gift wrapping once again!  Friends of Segowea will be out at Barnes & Noble in Poughkeepsie on December 20th for those last minute shoppers. This is our 5th year wrapping presents and proceeds of donations will go towards the continual support of Camp Wa Wa Segowea!  We'll have a table set up right in the store and be happy to do your gift wrapping for you.  So come on out and say hi and get some gifts wrapped!
It's Saturday December 20th at the Barnes and Noble on Route 9 in Poughkeepsie, NY. We'll be there all day!

Next on our list of what's new is the new Smith Park logo!  Smith Park of course, is the landowner where Camp is located. "The mission of Smith Park is to ensure the continued existence of Camp Wa Wa Segowea."  The logo was put together by a team of volunteers and we think it says it all!  Thanks to all that helped for creating it!  Here's what it looks like-

Staying with Smith Park news, you can now purchase Smith Park items in an online store!  There's shirts, sweatshirts, postcards, travel mugs, bandana's and other items for sale,  just in time for the holidays!  The collaboration is with Zazzle.com and you can access the store via this link http://www.zazzle.com/segowea    or go to Zazzle.com and search for Segowea.

Lastly, did you know dates are set for next year and registration has begun?  We're so excited because we know camp will be here before we know it!   Reserve your spot now with the dates you're looking for.  We know people are already planning for next summer, so you can make the decision now on when you'll attend!    Simply click HERE to go to registration. Pay all registration fees in full by December 31, 2014, and receive additional discounts on your camp enrollment, in addition to the Early Bird rates!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we'll see you at camp!

The Autumn Season at YMCA Camp Wa Wa Segowea.

It's been a beautiful autumn here at Camp Wa Wa Segowea!  The colors are vibrant, almost at peak. The air is crisp and it's definitely sweatshirt weather.   The summer seems like it was so long ago when it was just 2 months!    A few happenings at camp took place in those two months.  We witnessed a couple weddings at camp with rave reviews!  The camp's alumni organization, the Friends of Segowea had a Work Weekend/Family Camp get together happening on Labor Day Weekend.  And we had a Work Weekend take place as well at the end of September.  

Now, we're into October and ready to have our final work weekend!  We've already cleaned up quite a bit, and did some packing away. This weekend, the focus is  Senior Village.  We'll be doing some cleaning and organizing and are looking for some assistance!  If you're available for Saturday or Sunday, consider coming out to camp and helping.  We'll be providing lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday.  Weather is predicted to be good!  Whether you can come for a day, a couple hours or the whole weekend, come out to camp!  Simply register at this link- www.nwcty.org/workwknd    

Here are some recent pics from this great fall!