North Star Camp for Boys







Friday, August 31, 2012

Final Day for Returning Campers to Guarantee A Spot for 2013



Register Now at www.NorthStarCamp.com 
The September 1st Deadline is Tomorrow!


We hope that you will join us again for the Summer of 2013. This is the final day to guarantee that your son ca! We know that it is early, but once the deadline passes, we are going to open any available spots to our new campers on the wait list. In some age groups, we believe that there will not be any openings.

We have twice as many registrations in today as we did at this point last year, and twice as many from new campers. ENROLLING NOW IS THE ONLY WAY GUARANTEE YOUR SPOT. Please don't wait! This is our way of protecting our returning campers. After September 1st may be too late in many age groups.

You can Register Online at www.NorthStarCamp.com. If you have any questions, please give us a call up at camp at 715-462-3254.

We are looking forward to a fantastic Summer of 2013, our 69th camping season at North Star, and we hope that you will again join us.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Around the Campfire 2012


As summer turns into fall, we have a great opportunity to rekindle the North Star spirit in Chicagoland and to support the camp scholarship organization Camp for All Kids at the same time. On September 22nd, there will be the 2nd annual “Around the Campfire” event, hosted by Camp For All Kids.

Last year, Around the Campfire hosted more than 400 campers, family members and alumni from all five participating camps (North Star, Birch Trail, Chippewa, Kamaji and Timberlane) and raised more than $125,000 to support Camp for All Kids.

This year we’re throwing another reunion on Saturday, September 22 from 2-6pm on the grounds of Banner Day Camp in Lake Forest, IL. This is going to be a great family-oriented event highlighted by mini reunions for each camp, an all-new live auction for all ages, BBQ dinner and s'mores around the campfire.

Afterward, join us for Alumni After Dark, an adult reunion for alumni and their guests. There will be complimentary hors d'oeurves and a cash bar. The fun starts at 7 pm at DC Sarnies in Deerfield, IL.

It’ll be an afternoon and evening that combine the spirit of camp with a collective effort to send deserving kids to camp.

Camp for All Kids facilitates racial diversity by providing scholarships to kids from under-served communities so they can attend North Star or one of the other four partner camps.

We’ve simplified the fundraising this year. Join the North Star team and create a personal fundraising page so your family and friends can donate to this life-changing organization. You’ll earn points for each dollar raised that can be used in the auction on September 22nd.  Auction items will include camp-specific experiences and prizes...it will be fun and rewarding for all ages!

And while we hope you’ll start your own fundraising page, you also have the option to simply purchase tickets for the daytime event, evening reunion or both.

Visit the Around the Campfire website to join our team, donate, or purchase tickets.

Come to Banner Day Camp and Sarnies, see your buddies and have a great time. Please save the date and give generously. We hope to see you on 9/22/12.

Chairs Up,

Andy, Vickie, Leb, Sue & Dan

Saturday, August 18, 2012

The Off-Season Begins



2012 Registration is Now Open
Guaranteed Spots Only Until September 1st
Register Now at www.NorthStarCamp.com!

Today was the first day of the “off-season.” Camp is quiet and the deer have moved back in to graze on the athletic fields. Aside from the surprise of Mack and Murphy chasing them away, they also found a field in the process of being totally renovated. Yesterday we began a major project to grade and irrigate the athletic fields. It started with a local farmer tilling up all of our current turf. Then today, Dan and I went through and picked out the rocks. Tomorrow, they will begin the process of installing a sprinkler system that pulls the water from the lake and keeps the grass lush and green. Finally, the head greenskeeper from one of our local golf courses will be overseeing the planting of the perfect grass blend for our athletic fields.

Post Camp just drew to a close yesterday. We had a great week with families who joined us from around the country, many for the first time and some who have been coming for over 50 years. John Sheehan, Andy Rodheim, Scott Goldberg, Ben Mizel, Olly Cayless, Lewis Mulvee, Jeremy Palgen, Matt Rixon and Ben Lamont stayed on to lead post camp and help clean up camp, and we heard story after story of what a fun and meaningful summer it was for all involved. We have been hearing from campers and parents alike who are saying the same thing.

That sentiment is being reflected in the enrollment for 2013. We have more than twice as many registrations today as we did at this point last year, and we already have many people on a waiting list for second session. We want to reiterate that WE CAN ONLY GUARANTEE PLACEMENT FOR RETURNING CAMPERS IF YOU ENROLL BY SEPTEMBER 1st. Please don't wait! This is our way of protecting our returning campers. After September 1st may be too late in many age groups. If you have a younger son that is interested in coming to camp next summer, please enroll him before September 1st as well. And if you have any friends or family that may be interested, please let them know that they should be in touch quickly. You can also fill out our Refer-A-Friend Form online.

You can Register Online at www.NorthStarCamp.com. If you have any questions, please give us a call up at camp at 715-462-3254.

We are looking forward to a fantastic Summer of 2013, our 69th camping season at North Star, and we hope that you will again join us.

Most of all, we want to thank you for trusting us with your sons. We often boast that we have the nicest campers in the world, and we mean it. So thank you for making the decision to have them spend the summer with us. We look forward to many more.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Everybody Pow Wow!


Its hard to believe that we're entering the last week of our summer. As we do so, we really get rolling with our special programs. Over the last week we've had our Green-White Egg Marathon the Lumberjack World Championship were just a few of the great all-camp activities that have pushed us towards what is a grand finale. As we come down the stretch, we go into overdrive with special events, with Pow Wow Day being a camp staple.

This year's Pow Wow Day was no exception. On Sunday, after returning from the Lumberjack Championships we announced the captains who would lead their teams. The captains are charged with lots of responsibilities as they assemble their teams, assign the members and work to ensure that everyone has a great day. They help to build the spirit and sportsmanship that is vital to a great Pow Wow Day.

Our tribes this year were Cocopah, Pomo, Totonac and Wallawalla. As the day approached, each team had to show their creative sides, performing cheers on the two days prior to Pow Wow Day. What was once simple songs and rhyming verses have been transformed into elaborate song parodies that would make Wierd Al proud. We have begun to afford each team some time ahead of the cheers to teach them to their entire team, ensuring top notch (or near top notch) performance. 

Each Pow Wow Day we wake up half an hour early to make sure that we can get all the days events in. The teams choose colors, so we give everyone time to get painted for the day, and then we go into opening ceremonies. On horseback, Leb led the four tribes silently towards Lou's Diamond, with each tribe forming a line between the bases in one large square. This is a camp tradition, but this year's opening saw him hand off his head dress and the Pow Wow Day Peace Pipe to Andy, who was also on horseback.
After our opening, under some light drizzle, each village went into their leg wrestling matches. Its hard to beat the energy and enthusiasm of this. With their teammates cheering them on, the wrestlers work to flip their opponents, with a handshake after the match, regardless of the outcome. The rest of our morning events went off without a hitch. 



Lunch is another great camp tradition... the silent meal. Everyone enters the lodge, and after grace, there is to be no talking as everyone enjoys their meals. Scores at lunch were tremendously close, with only ten points separating the 1st and 3rd place teams.

The afternoon began with our staff 1-pitch softball game. Not only is honor on the line in this game, but so is food. The outcome of the games determines the eating order for dinner. Running relays and tug-o-wars followed lunch ahead of the third and fourth series. Third series has lots of water event. There are several canoe events and the fishing contest. Fourth series sees the entire camp head down to swim point for swim races, log rolling and water polo. One big change to Pow Wow Day this year was with log rolling. In past years, each tribe had two log rollers that hopped onto the log solo and we timed how long they could roll. This year we've had members to the Hoeschler family at camp teach our campers how to log roll. They have won several log rolling contests and have done a great job teaching our campers the sport. The change to this year's contest saw log rollers going at it with an opponent on the other end of the log, and the first to fall twice was out. 

Following a great dinner we have go into the announcements of the scores (It Just Doesn't Matter!). Campers are eager to know how their team did, and often they just can't contain their excitement. Somehow a 5 minute announcement is strung into an hour long stall, with our campers as willing accomplices. Campers spent at least ten minutes giving Andy and Vickie many recommendations for baby names. In the end Totonac, who had been in second place at midday had a great afternoon to win the day.

While we are in the home stretch of the summer, about 20% remains for our second session campers. We've got espionage, camper counselor day, casino night and several other highlights ahead!