End of camp celebrations
Mela McCrerey, 3, of Washington, blows bubbles during a carnival at Camp Laughalot at Washington Park Friday.
Quimber Nutter, center, coordinator at Camp Laughalot, plays with camper David Myers in a bounce house during a carnival to celebrate the final day of camp at Washington Park Friday. Above, Brady Morgan of Scott Township tries his hand at cornhole.
Campers perform for their families during the last day of Camp Challenge at Lemoyne Community Center. Brenden Sider, front, 11, of Washington, dances in a routine Friday.
Brayce Patterson, left, 12, Mason Martin, 12, and Kevin McCrack, 11, all of Washington, make music during a dance routine in Washington Friday.
Brady Morgan of Scott Township tries his hand at cornhole during a Camp Laugh-A-Lot carnival at Washington Park Friday.
Summer is coming to a close, and so are summer camps in Washington County.
On Friday, two popular camps celebrated the things their campers did throughout several weeks of activity. Camp Laughalot, a seven-week summer camp for special needs children, and Camp Challenge, an eight-week summer camp that focuses on encouraging underprivileged youth to set higher goals for themselves, each went out with send-off parties to get the community involved.
Both camps are held every summer in Washington County and focus on members of the community who don’t necessarily have the same opportunities as other children in order to show them they can be productive and successful members of society.
Camp Laughalot’s annual camp carnival is always celebrated on the last day. Carnival games, a bounce house, dunk tank, cotton candy machine, magician, DJ and more were part of the festivities at Washington Park’s Stone Pavilion. The carnival is coordinated by Arc Human Services and open to all campers, family members, staff and community members.
“It’s something we like to do to let them know they can have fun and be a part of the community,” said Camp Laughalot coordinator Quimber Nutter.
That’s not the only thing Camp Laughalot had to celebrate,. Arc Human Services on Friday was purchased an MV1, a handicapped-accessible vehicle that will be used to transport campers who use wheelchairs to camp outings they previously would miss, said development coordinator Machal Forbes.
Camp Laughalot had a total of 65 campers with an average of 35 campers each week.
At Camp Challenge, its annual parent showcase was held at LeMoyne Community Center. Free food, entertainment and door prizes made for an exciting afternoon. Children in each of the four age groups in the camp performed a routine they created and prepared since the start of camp. A total of 180 campers participated.
David Ryan Bunting, a Camp Challenge supervisor, said each group had four instructors responsible for helping the children learn their choreography and prepare for their performance, which they practiced diligently for weeks.
“Bringing the community together is always a wonderful thing,” Bunting said. “We bring the parents, grandparents, family members, community members, even government officials, all to see our kids in a light that maybe they didn’t have the opportunity to see them in prior to today.”