Fun in the Sun—Playground
When camp was purchased, there was a nine-hole, par 3 golf course, a horseshoe pit, a small basketball court, a see saw and a small swing set (the one that is still there).
Eventually the horseshoe pit and the holes in the golf course were filled in and the golf course came to look like the rest of the expansive lawn.
In the early 1970s, Peifer Welding, a company in Pennsylvania with ties to Mellinger Mennonite Church, traveled to camp and built the large swing set. Offering to help on a volunteer basis, they welded the pipes and built a much taller swing set than the one that was already at camp. They helped to create one of the favorite spots and activities at camp. People of all ages have loved the swing set over the years and it is almost always in use. With wooden seats and long chains, the swings allow you to soar quite high.
“I like the seesaw because it is where I met my best friend,” said Joshua Stevens, a 9-year-old camper, in 2017. “It is a great place to make friends.”
“The swings are my chill spot,” said Nicolas Angustia, who attended children’s camp as an 11-year-old in 2017. “I like to sit and relax on the swings.”
The playground equipment has always attracted the attention of the campers. It’s usually the first thing that they run to when they get to camp or when they have any free time. But not many know the back story of the Alamo with the slides. The Alamo, the brown triangular structure with two slides, was built by Maynard Shirk and Wes Newswanger, along with the help of Jerry Kennell and Lowell Jantzi. The Alamo was built in 1975 and it featured homemade slides. Lowell put wood slabs up in 1976 to make an enclosure under the platform. The staff began to call it the Alamo, and the name stuck.
The merry-go-round was also built by Maynard Shirk in 1975. Maynard found an old Dodge truck axle in a junkyard and decided that it would make a good merry-go-round for camp. He buried it into the ground and then built the rest of the merry-go-round on the axle that stuck up from the ground. When he first built it there was little space between the ground and the bottom of the merry-go-round. But because of the generations of kids playing on it, the ground eroded and now the truck axle is visible. There have only been a few repairs done to the equipment over the years.
The kids love the merry-go-round, especially when someone gets it spinning fast. Some grownups also brave being spun around in circles, holding tight to the railings, and then struggling to walk in a straight line after they get off.
A baseball field was added to camp in 1970, in the field across the road from the chapel. Many baseball games were played during children’s camps and retreats. The baseball field had to be torn up in 2003 when a new sewage system was installed.
In 1976 a handball court was built. Handball was a popular sport in the city at that time, and the camp staff decided to build a court themselves. One winter evening Lowell Jantzi and Ruth Villanueva returned from a date and as they turned into camp the headlights revealed a much lower hand-ball wall with a pile of blocks laying in neat rows on the court. The mason—Lowell—had not filled the block cores with cement all the way to the top and rain had filled the empty cores; when they froze, the wind toppled them over. The scars on the court where they landed are still there. The wall was rebuilt the next spring.
Lonnie Scott was asked to paint the mural on the outer wall. The mural has been re-painted several times and continues to offer a colorful collage of camp life.
The basketball court is another area that gets a great deal of use. The small basketball court was resurfaced in 1994. In 2017, court renovations included relocating it uphill and away from a large tree, widening it to include a 3-point shot, adding new LED lights and installing a new surface.
In 2011 a permanent Gaga ball pit was added to the playground area and has become a camper favorite. Known as the kinder, gentler version of dodge ball, Gaga is a fast-paced, high-energy sport that combines the skills of dodging, striking, running and jumping, while trying to hit opponents with the ball below the knees.
“I love playing Gaga when the pit is full with campers and staff,” Nicolas said. “It makes me happy to see everyone together.”
—Written by Dillon Hershey and Donna Stoltzfus
.Nicolas Angustia, camper, future staff, attends United Revival Mennonite Church in Brooklyn.
Joshua Stevens, camper, future staff, attends King of Glory Tabernacle in the Bronx.