Campfires are some of the most special nights at Foley…

Campfires held a bigger significance this year simply because it was the 100th year of Foley. That’s a lot of pressure to put on us, to put on the 1st or last 100th campfire of a session! Between admin and our amazing staff, there were some awesome and hilarious campfire themes brought to life. Read on to see what the 100th year campfires were like this past summer…

1st Session

Opening Campfire started out very appropriately with a time traveling theme! Counselors Seleen and Maggie played time traveling inspectors coming to see Foley through the decades. Son of alum and 4th year counselor Nick Kronschnabel played Father Foley himself, and even AD Joe had a role as a 1950s boxing champ (in reference to the boxing ring that was located where the climbing tower now is.) Each decade was celebrated with a different song and we ended the campfire with Ally leading the campers in Father Foley’s favorite camp song “Grandfather Clock”.

Closing was equally as fun! The counselors chose the very Topical theme BARBIE! Counselor Oliva played stereotypical Barbie and many of the male staff played different version of Ken. The east end counselors even attempted to do the “I’m just Ken” dance. Ally Daily loaned out much of her pink wardrobe to admin and staff so everyone would be on theme!

2nd Session

Opening Campfire was a hilarious adventure with a Night at the Foley Museum. They were taken through different traditions of Camp and many different statues came to life. Thanks to counselors Kai and Jules for planning it!

Closing Campfire was planned by Ally Daily, and brought the Academy Awards to Camp Foley! It was a star studded night with each counselor playing the part of a celebrity complete with nametags and costumes. Ally and counselor Sam Rocheford (son of alum Tony Rocheford) hosted the award show, with different celebrities coming up to announce awards won and counselors thanking all theirs with ribbons. Musical guests appeared throughout the “live taping” and AD Joe starred as the disembodied announcer  who gave everyone their que on when to appear on stage. The night included a real read carpet and paparazzi!

3rd Session

3rd session started off with a fantastic opening planned by counselors Emily Guckeen (alum of Michelle Guckeen) and Ana Lu from Colombia, also a past camper turned counselor. They chose the theme Inside Out, as the second movie in the franchise had just been released. Counselor Libby played Riley coming to camp for the first time, and the actors explored all the different emotions that go along with attending an overnight summer camp for the first time. We want to shout out counselor Aria who did a particularly realistic representation of Sadness throughout the entire campfire.

We ended everything with a bang during 3rd session with a Willy Wonka themed closing Campfire. Counselor and Swim Dock Captain Noah had been planning up this theme before summer even started! He and the famous Nick Kronsch tackled this delicious theme and made it one of the most special nights all summer. The part of the night by far was director Alli Faricy reprising her role as an Oompa Loompa complete with pink hair! She last donned this costume back in 2012 to give out skipper awards. The trail leading to the beach was decorated with Hershey wrappers and “robotic” Wonka workers played by staff. Staff appeared from the lake to give out swimming awards!