Celebrations All Around
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Smirkus Camp Head Coach Doug Stewart
Greetings from Smirkus Camp!
Today was a day full of celebrations. Not only did we celebrate “Bagpipe Appreciation Day” and “National Stilt Walking Day” but they both happen to fall on the one and only TuTu Tuesday! So it is pretty safe to say we’ve been having a pretty amazing day. In fact, we’ve been having a week full of celebrations!
Starting on Sunday, we got to celebrate the good news that all of our Covid tests came back negative. That means as a community, we get to unmask and enjoy camp without any covid restrictions. That means we’ve done away with pods and can train circus and play games as one group. Since we can now mingle among ourselves, we’ve introduced a bunch of new classes and options, starting with electives.
On Friday, campers got to choose their electives. They got to pick from a variety of classes that they attend every day. This way, the campers get to choose their favorite skills and get to work with the same coach and same classmates each day. This allows us to really start diving deep into each circus skill and being working on advanced moves. Additionally, we can have choice time! Every day at lunch the coaches whip up a list of classes for the afternoon. Classes can be things like fabric drops, or split on the tight wire or other things like dog tricks or watching circus videos! The beautiful thing about electives and choice time is watching the kids excel at what they do best, while still taking some time to try out new things. Kids get to train alongside whoever they want and it’s a great way for campers to meet each other.
Apart from the amazing circus that is going on, we got to celebrate the return of our beloved toaster. As you might have heard, our toaster broke over the weekend. It was quite terrible indeed. BUT luckily, by powers unknown to us, the toaster began working again on Monday morning. We were so ecstatic that we had a toast themed day including thematic warm ups and strengthening and plenty of toast eating.
There is just too much to celebrate here. Between birthdays and holidays and negative tests, it feels like we are always over the moon up here on Breezy Ave. But my favorite celebrations are the tiny ones, if you blink you miss them. I’m talking about the celebratory smile of someone who crosses a tight wire for the first time without a spot, or the happy dance when a camper catches a new juggling trick and the moment your team finally wins Wizards, Giants, Elves. To be in such a special place where people from all over get to come together to play and train, and help each other achieve their dreams, is just truly incredible. And that’s worth celebrating.