Excitement is mounting as alumni, parents and campers prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Camp Arrowhead at a reunion on Sunday, August 13, 2006, from 2 to 10 p.m.
The fun-filled day will include activities for the entire family, such as memorabilia exhibits, a corn roast, carnival games, sports, arts and crafts, a live animal show, and waterfront activities with boat rides and a ski show. The day will culminate with a fireworks display.
Spearheaded by the Posluns family. Arrowhead was founded on the west side of Lake Simcoe near Belle Ewart in 1955. Many area cottagers who are now parents and grandparents were once campers and have children and grandchildren who attend the camp.
In the 1990s, due to financial problems and a declining camper population, UJA Federation of Greater Toronto took over the camp’s land and gave its parent association a 99-year lease while specifying that it be run with Jewish content.
Today, the non-profit camp has 150 campers from ages three to 14 and boasts 280 feet of shoreline in what is now Innisfil.
Heather Goldberg, an early childhood specialist whose family members are longtime cottagers in the area, is president of the Arrowhead Parents Association. A former camper whose two children, Grant, 12, and Emily, 9, now attend Arrowhead, she said that the camp started with 20 children in 1955 and today, “each year the numbers are increasing, as many young people are buying cottages in the area.”
Campers, staff and parents “can all remember the fun times and numerous stories of our experiences at the camp,” said reunion chair Charles (Chuck) Katzman. “It was a place where everyone knew your name, and of course, knew two more members of your extended family. Camp provided us all the opportunity to form some great friendships, learn some valuable life skills, but most of all, it was a great place to have fun.”
Debbie Snider, who attended Arrowhead from 1956 to 1965, said she has fond recollections of its early days: Sabbath services led by Freda Steinberg, the first Arrowhead camp director; songs written by Joanne Rutherford; skits performed by campers; and visits to nearby Watermans grocery store for candy.
Goldberg said there was always a special Camp Arrowhead spirit, “and we hope that it will continue for many years to come.”
For more information about Camp Arrowhead, please visit www.camparrowhead.ca. ♦
This article appeared originally in the Canadian Jewish News and appears here courtesy of the author. © 2006 by Cynthia Gasner.
