Camp Tanadoona
Open House
SATURDAY, April 24th
1 - 4 PM
Free and open to the public.
Camp Tanadoona
3300 Tanadoona Drive
Excelsior, MN 55331
Map.
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Special Viewing
MN History Center
100 Years of Camp Fire Exhibit
Tuesday, April 27th
4 - 6 PM
Minnesota History Center Library
You are invited to a special viewing for alumni and
supporters. Camp Fire staff and board members and History Center curators will
be on hand to talk about the exhibit and Camp Fire's history. There will also be
a station where alumni can share their stories of Camp Fire. The Camp Fire exhibit is free and open to
the public. There is a cost to view other History Center exhibits.
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Urban Camp Fire Youth Explore Camp Tanadoona
Annual Club to Camp field trips connect youth with nature
After reflecting on the day, youth made s'mores around the campfire. |
Armed with compasses and maps, a small group of youth pored
over a scrap of paper, reading it aloud in near-unison. "I am a little cabin,
not so very far from where you're standing now. There's a pretty constellation
painted above my door on my front wall. You'll find your
next clue snug inside me, where campers sleep in summertime," they read. Looking at their maps, the youth jumped with
excitement as they pointed at the group of cabins, then streaked off to the
west to find their next clue.
In the cabin, the kids perched on bunks and looked around
the space with interest. Benjamin
Pedersen, the activity leader posed them a question: "This cabin is named after
the constellation Leo," he said. "Who knows what the constellation Leo looks
like?"
"A lion!" the kids chorused back before reading their next
clue and shooting out of the cabin to find "the big white house where a Minnesota governor used
to live."
After learning how to use a compass, youth went on a scavenger hunt around camp. | Exploring Camp Tanadoona through this history-themed scavenger hunt
is one of a number of fun camp activities that Camp Fire
club members did as part of two Club to Camp field trips at the end of March.
"Club to Camp field trips give urban Camp Fire youth an
opportunity to explore nature in a wilderness setting at Camp Tanadoona and to
get a taste of summer camp," said Suzi Flory, who helped to coordinate the
field trips.
At Camp Tanadoona, youth painted postcards with dyes made
from fruits and vegetables, learned about wolves, played animal-themed field
games, roasted s'mores over the campfire and went on a scavenger hunt that took
them on a tour of the camp while learning about some of Camp Tanadoona's
history.
Read More.
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You're Invited to Camp Fire's Centennial Celebration
Reflect. Reconnect. Reinvest.
 You're invited to an evening of celebration and inspiration
as we mark 100 years of Camp
Fire.
Join us for a
glittering event surrounded by the natural beauty of Camp Tanadoona. We'll honor Camp Fire's
illustrious history and celebrate the many accomplishments of the past 100
years. You'll also get a special peek
into the future of Camp Fire in Minnesota.
Local dignitaries will speak, including a welcome by Mayor Tom Furlong, City of
Chanhassen.
This
is a once-in-a-century event that you won't want to miss!
Free and open to the public, though a donation of $50 is suggested.
Please register by May 14, 2010.
Register online.
(612) 285-6255, [email protected]
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Featured Partner Site of the Month
Centennial Art Project at Trails Edge
 Local artist Pat McGowan visited the Trails Edge Camp Fire
club this week to lead club members in a cooperative art project. In celebration of Camp
Fire's Centennial, McGowan contributed his time and artistic talents, as well as all the necessary materials, to working with the youth to make a professional
piece of art that will be donated to Camp
Fire's Centennial
Celebration.
McGowan introduced the youth to the artistic technique of
encaustic wax painting. In this
technique, colored and clear wax is painted onto a wax-covered
canvas. After painting, the wax is
"burned in" to the canvas to create a softer, more impressionist look. Small items can also be embedded into the wax
to create a three-dimensional scene.
"I think that the art project is going to look so great!"
said club member Lakeedra. "We're sticking
rocks on, then melting stuff."
 Camp
Fire youth created a
nature scene for their artwork. Club
members Ezekiel and Claudesha placed small stones and gravel as a shoreline
that they then painted with melted wax to make the stones adhere to the
canvas. Other club members drew in
grass, flowers and a breezy spring sky. "When the crayon drawings started to melt in, it was really cool!" said
Keandria.
Along with the encaustic wax project, club members also
created a collage of items that reminded them of Camp Fire
to keep at Trails Edge. "It's cool how
you put white glue on the pictures and stuff and you can't see them," said
Xavier, "but then it dries clear so that you can see everything."
As the club members said their goodbyes to McGowan, Ezekiel
thanked him for the exciting project. "I
liked meeting a new artist!" Ezekiel said.
McGowan recently created a piece of art for the Make-a-Wish Foundation with five children battling Leukemia. "Within
the past 5 years, I have donated my artwork to many organizations," McGowan said. "The way I see it, I would have made the art
anyway so why not put it to good use?"
 For this piece of art, "I want to create something that is fun to look at and exemplifies what Camp Fire means to the kids who participate in these
programs," McGowan said.
McGowan will add finishing touches to the artwork in his studio. The artwork
will be displayed as part of the silent auction at Camp Fire's Centennial Celebration on June
3rd at Camp
Tanadoona.
View a slideshow of the youth artists at work.
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In Memoriam
Remembering Lauraine Torgerson
 Lauraine M. Torgerson
("Torgy"), a longtime member of Camp
Fire and past Executive Director
of the St. Paul Council, passed away March 5, 2010 at the age of 90. Lauraine joined Camp Fire
at age 10 and remained active throughout her life.
El Randels, a friend
of Lauraine, said that, when Lauraine was growing up, money was tight for her
and the others in her Camp
Fire club; they couldn't
afford to buy too many recognition beads, so they made sure to pick only the
most important beads to work towards.
Education was very important to Lauraine and her
family. After finishing high school,
Lauraine attended the University
of Minnesota, where she
majored in business management. This was
not a typical field for women to pursue at that time, but Lauraine liked
accounting, and she wasn't interested in the usual classes for women.
After graduating, Lauraine found a job as a Certified
Professional Accountant. She was the
third woman to ever be a CPA for the state of Minnesota.
"Lauraine was a woman before her time," said her niece, Rita
Bauer.
In 1958, Lauraine became the Executive Director of the St.
Paul Council of Camp
Fire. She was recruited in large part because of
her accounting skills. "It was a job she
loved," said Randels. Lauraine worked
with 150 Camp Fire volunteers to make the St. Paul
Council into one of the top councils in the country.
During the summers, Lauraine drove out to camp weekly. Friend and coworker Margaret Olson recalled,
"At meals the campers greeted her with enthusiasm. Typically she was dressed in turquoise
shorts, a crisp white blouse and matching turquoise jewelry - lots of
jewelry. With a big smile on her face,
she would greet the campers and tell them how happy she was to be at camp." Lauraine served as the St. Paul Council's
Executive Director for 20 years.
Lauraine's energy and enthusiasm were admired by all who
knew her. "She loved life," Bauer
said. "I hope I enjoy life at her age as
much as she did.
Lauraine was a member
of the Torch Bearer's Society and established a fund in the Minnesota Camp Fire
Foundation in 2007. Her fund will help support Camp Fire's work with youth for many years to come.
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Tanadoona Retrospective
As we celebrate Camp
Fire's Centennial, we look back at the
history of Camp Tanadoona - how it has changed to fit
the times while staying, at its heart, much the same as when it opened in
1924.
 In the early years, Camp
Fire's Camp
Tanadoona, on the shores of Lake Minnewashta,
was a backwoods destination camp for girls in the Twin Cities. Campers would travel the long distance from
the cities to Camp
Tanadoona by streetcar,
and when they got to camp, they felt like they were out in the middle of the
wilderness.
Today, the city of Chanhassen
has grown up around Camp
Tanadoona. What was once a long journey from Minneapolis has become a quick
drive, and the "wilderness" has sprouted a thriving community with its own
urban core. Despite the many changes
taking place around it, Camp
Tanadoona remains, at its
core, much the same as when it first opened its doors in the 1920s.
Camp Tanadoona sits on the former summer home of Governor
John Lind, Minnesota's
14th governor. Born in Sweden, Governor Lind was at the forefront of
the progressive movement in Minnesota. Camp
Fire purchased the
property, which included Lind's mansion and a number of other buildings, in
1922.
 Girls came to Camp
Tanadoona to build
outdoor skills and learn independence. In the early years, campers slept in tents among the trees, but cabins
were built in the late 1920s to provide a more permanent camping experience. The mansion and other buildings of Governor
Lind's summer home were repurposed as camp buildings, and the mansion still
stands overlooking Lake
Minnewashta.
Camp Fire expanded in the 1970s to welcome boys as well as
girls, but summers at Camp
Tanadoona have continued
with many of the same activities and traditions as when the camp first
opened. Campers still sing songs each
day, and every session closes with a traditional Council Fire. For many years, this Council Fire would take
place on the lakefront, with the campfire built in Lake Minnewashta
so that its flames danced just off the shore.
 Starting in the 1960s, as the Twin Cities metro area expanded and Camp
Tanadoona became even more easy to get to, the camp expanded its program to include wilderness trips up to the Boundary Waters and other parts of northern Minnesota. Campers learned canoeing and backpacking
skills, then tested their mettle with backwoods trips. To commemorate these trips, campers signed
and decorated canoe paddles that hang in Tasiago, the camp's dining hall.
Today, Camp
Tanadoona's trip sessions travel to Camp Bluewater,
a Camp Fire
camp in the Chippewa
National Forest. Campers on these trips challenge themselves in the great Northwoods of Minnesota, cooking over a campfire and sleeping under the stars. Their days are spent paddling a chain of lakes and backpacking the pristine forest. Specifically for older campers, these wilderness trips teach campers a
progression of skills and build on the basic camping skills they learned
as younger campers at Camp Tanadoona.
Camp
Tanadoona continues to
provide an authentic summer camp experience with a Northwoods feel. Many campers come for multiple weeks
throughout the summer and cherish their time spent in the woods and on the
lake. The camp has also gained an
international flair, with counselors from around the world.
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Best Regards,
Marnie K. Wells, Chief Executive Officer
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