Evening Program: The Hour Camp Comes Together

Ask a camper about his day and he might tell you about archery, sailing, soccer, or pottery.

Ask him about Evening Program and his eyes usually light up.

There is something different about EP.

Maybe it’s the competition. Maybe it’s the traditions. Maybe it’s the chance to run through the woods with hundreds of other campers chasing the same goal.

Whatever it is, Evening Program has become one of the highlights of camp life.

The excitement often begins long before the game starts.

On Thursday night, the boys in Cabin 17 received the Evening Program cheat sheet for “Bowsner Tag” as soon as they sat down for dinner. Before dessert was finished, they had already identified their base, figured out which cabins were on their team, and started talking trash about the opposition.

After dinner, boys gathered for instructions at Morning Watch and the chants had already started.

Green Team, known as Luigini, would defend the Nature Hut. Gold Team, known as Marnino, would defend the Tennis Hut. The anticipation had been building all day.

Campers sprinted toward their bases. Defenders spread out. Attackers searched for openings. Scouting parties slipped through the woods looking for hidden routes.

“I got you, boy!”

A camper lunged for a belt while a younger camper slipped away laughing and disappeared into the trees.

For the next hour, camp looked completely different.

“It’s the one opportunity to play together as a whole camp,” said Assistant Program Director Johnny “Beans” Ervin. “It’s like a fourth-grade recess game turned into the world’s biggest game of tag.”

“It’s the best night because you get to use all of camp and use different parts of camp as your advantage,” said William S. from Charleston, South Carolina.

Rivers S. from Charlotte described one game where campers organized an entire attack force. “We had a whole army building groups in different zones to attack their base,” he said.

The games change from week to week, but the feeling stays the same.

“Everybody’s together and playing,” said Assistant Program Director Whit Flicksinger. “We always have a theme, the counselors and boys get into it, and everyone buys in.”

A first-year camper and a senior camper might spend the evening defending the same base. Counselors join the action. Cabins work together. Older campers help younger campers.

Assistant Program Director Eleanor Donohue remembers one of her favorite Evening Programs from years ago.

“We played Deep Woods Capture the Flag. I was covered in mud and sweating from head to toe running through the woods,” she said. “It didn’t matter what the ages were. Everyone was on the same team united and fighting for the same cause.”

That sense of togetherness is what keeps campers coming back.

For Beans, one Evening Program memory lasted much longer than a single night.

“When I was seven years old, I remember seeing someone carrying the flag back to my base and I wanted to be that guy every summer after that,” he said.

It took fourteen years.

Eventually, he captured the flag himself.

“I carried it across Land Sports, slid through a kid’s legs, and landed on the bridge to win the game and the Green versus Gold competition. Probably the greatest day of my life.”

It’s the kind of memory younger campers are creating for themselves right now.

Even campers who prefer smaller Line Evening Programs understand the draw.

“All Camp EP is hard,” said McCoy G. from Charlotte. “I like the challenge of it.”