Camp Traditions
Many of us yearn for traditions. For some it is traditions we fondly remember in family or school or church. At holidays we , with heartfelt longings, remember the
yesteryears and those traditions we wish to carry forward in every generation. Traditions seem to bind us to one another, long after life moves us away from those special times.
Camp traditions instill also those pleasant memories of times we always gathered for the same celebrations or shared life every year in much the same way. We look forward to new things while still holding fast to Traditions!
At Camp Whip-Poor-Will, one of our “little traditions” was to begin each day gathered in the big pavilion as Mr. Whip-Poor-Will led the traditional morning song…
This Is The Day
“This is the Day, This is the Day that the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice. Let Us Rejoice
and be glad in it.
This is the Day, This is the Day
that the Lord has made.”
Repeating it several times brought little campers and Junior staff to join him at the microphone morning after morning. It was then that the camp day could begin.
And at the end of each camp week, after campers were on the bus with roll call complete and goodbyes expressed, Mr. and Mrs. Whip-Poor-Will climbed on the bus and with staff and campers sang Roy Rogers song together, Happy Trails. To one and all, farewells and goodbyes seemed always a little sweeter with Happy Trails!
Happy Trails
Happy Trails to you ( make sounds as Clop Clop of Horse Hooves)
Happy Trails to you until we meet again
Happy Trails to you..Keep smiling until then!
Who cares about the clouds when we’rre together
Just sing a song and think of sunny weather!
Happy Trails to you…Happy Trails to you!
Until we meet again! Happy Trails!
(shout our Happy Trails…then the sounds clop clop as
the bus departs with a camping group who will never
gather in their entirety again). Happy trails indeed.
This song was written by Roy Rogers after the death of his son, Roy Jr. in 1949. Roy and his wife, Dale Evans, sang and recorded this song along with their favorite singing group, Sons of the Pioneers. Since the early existence of Camp Whip-Poor-Will, we have always closed out the week with this truly meaningful song as a tribute to the many boys and girls who have come and gone at Camp Whip-Poor-Will and to whom we shall always wish Happy Trails!