Sadie Hawkins Day!

Sadie Hawkins Day. Those three words either bring joy and excitement to the campers, or cause fear and trembling. Each Tuesday of Camp is Sadie Hawkins Day(2nd Tuesday for 2 week sessions). And Sadie Hawkins is always a day that brings about lots of discussion amongst the campers. No matter what how the campers feel about Sadie Hawkins Day, there is no doubt that it is always one of the highlights of the session.

Sadie Hawkins Day gets started early on Tuesday morning. After Flag Devo is over, the staff introduces the day by singing the Sadie Hawkins Day Song. It goes something like this...

"Its Sadie Hawkins Day, its Sadie Hawkins Day, its Sadie Hawkins Day, its Sadie Hawkins Day,

So all you girls and guys, will run fast if your wise,

Its Sadie Hawkins Day, Its Sadie Hawkins Day, HEY!!!"

When Group Activity rolls around, Sadie Hawkins Day is in full swing. It starts with telling the true story of Sadie Hawkins. She was a beauty challenged young lady who chased young men around trying to capture their affection. So we recreate this story our own Camp Deer Run way. The boys line, and are allowed to run and hide. The girls are then allowed to chase after the boys. After a short time, all boys have to come out of hiding and be chased by the girls. After all boys are caught, its time to get married. The boys kneel in front of their date and grab an ankle while the girls gently grab a lock of hair. After reciting the marriage vows, the couples are married in holy macaroni, a marriage that lasts only through night canteen.
Once the marriages are complete, its time to head to the creek to make the marriages complete. The boys have to "gently" dip their date into the creek.
As you can tell from the picture below, sometimes the "gently" dipping part is forgotten.

After the dipping of dates is done, a huge creek battle generally breaks out. The girls often team up to try and exact revenge on the boys, the boys try to start wrestling in the water, and there may be some mud bombs thrown around the creek. The best part of spending time at the creek is showing the campers how much fun playing in a small little creek in the middle of the woods can be. This is something that most campers never get the chance to do, and once they are able to give in and have fun, all have a wonderful time.

Each Tuesday night is cookout night, which is tons of fun. Each group goes off on its own to one of the cookout spots and spends a few hours under the stars by a fire. This is always a great time to play fun games around the fire. Lots of great memories are made during this time. This is another example of an activity that the campers rarely get a chance to do.

Once the games are over and the fire is ready, its time to cook some hot dogs. For Sadie Hawkins, the girls are asked to cook for their dates. The boys are told to promise to eat the dogs made for them no matter what may have happened to the dog during the cooking process. After everyone eats there are some stories told, and then Night Devo.

There are several other things that go on during this day that I left out, but this is a short rundown of a typical Sadie Hawkins Day. Sadie Hawkins Day is one of those days that always stands out in former Deer Runners memories. Its a day of fun gifts, fun stories, and fun activities. It is the perfect example of what Camp Deer Run offers to the campers...a Christ-centered experience that they won't get anywhere else.

Hail, Dear Ol' Deer Run,

Sparky