Camp Fires
Each session begins with a gathering around the campfire. Girls' Ridge has their opening campfire in the Amphitheatre while the Boys' Ridge treks to the waterfront.No opening campfire would be complete without camp songs and a basic introduction to camp.
Opening campfires are capped off with the story and distribution of our Friendship Ropes. Much symbolism is represented in the ropes held on by a wooden bead.
Our ropes are circlular in shape representing the circle of friends we have at camp. Our circle is held together by the bead, so that we don't have to tie the ends together. We must leave it open to be able to add more friends. The color of the bead shows how many years you have shared with us at Camp Cullen: Red=1, Green=2, Natural=3, Brown=4, Black=5-9, Blue=10-19, White=20-29, and for those over 30 years, we have purple.
Where the Friendship Rope and Bead was born is where the story gets interesting. You will have to come share a summer with us to be a part of the Friendship Rope. See you soon!
Closing Campfire
Many moons ago when the earth was green with grass and the land was black with buffalo...
Throughout all the years of life, some things have stayed true. A camp's closing ceremony is a time to remember forever.
Our closing campfire embodies the core values of our camp, Caring, Honesty, Respect, Responsibility and Faith. Each session one camper is chosen from within his or her cabin to be named the Honor Camper; the one who has represented the core values to the highest of standards. After the Honor Camper ceremony, we begin our skits and songs to bring a message focusing upon Faith to our campers. Before we finish with the camp song, we circle the fire for one last campfire round up.
