Behind the Scenes: Closing Vespers

This year, we’ve been giving you a peek into some of the “Behind the Scenes” happenings at camp. From hiring our staff to adding a new class to planning Carnival, we hope you’ve enjoyed pulling back the curtain to see the inner workings of all-things-Greystone.

Today, we are giving you the inside look at one of our most iconic Evening Programs: Closing Vespers. At Main Camp, this EP is always on our second to last night of camp and gives us time to reflect on all that we have learned (and hopefully all that we will be taking home with us) before we leave for the summer. So how does Closing Vespers come together? Let’s find out!

The Pavilion Part

Closing Vespers starts in the Pavilion, as our oldest girls share meaningful thoughts about the lessons of camp. Here’s what goes into the Pavilion set-up:

• Make a schedule: While we follow the same format for the event year after year, we first start by taking a look at the order of events. Then, our Honor Council campers divide up responsbilities as they help host the night. Girls sign up to light candles, read scripture, pray, speak on specific aspects of the Honor Council pledge, and more.
• Decide on who will receive the offering: During our church services on Sunday at all of our sessions, campers have the option of donating a small amount of money from their Store accounts to our Greystone offering. This offering is then given to different people and organizations, many of which are connected to camp. Before Closing Vespers, our Honor Council decides how this money will be given and which people will be blessed by the Greystone campers’ generosity that year!
• Plan the little details: Whenever there is any sort of event at camp, you’d be amazed at the little details you have to check-off before the event begins. For Closing Vespers, this includes: setting up the stage, moving the Christ candle to the Pavilion, finding matches for Jimboy to use, cleaning and preparing the candelabras, putting down sheets on the floors (so the candles don’t drop wax everywhere), assigning staff to play the worship songs, and much more. It may seem like a “simple” EP, but in order for it to appear simple, you must cross off many things.
• Prepare Follow the Gleam slides: Closing Vespers surely wouldn’t be complete if the Follow the Gleam slides weren’t ready to go! How many times do you think we sing that song?!

The Candle Set-Up Part

How many of you have helped with sticking candles into our wooden blocks? Then you know all about the candle set-up that must take place! Here are the details:

• Find and sort the blocks: We store the blocks in big trash cans, and over the winter, some of the blocks rot and decay. To start the process, our maintenance guys take a look at the blocks to make sure they are going to survive another float. New blocks are added each year! (And I would guess there are some blocks that have been used for decades!)
• Dig out the old wax: When candles melt during the ceremony, the wax hardens into the hole in each wooden block. Half the battle of setting up is digging out the old wax.
• Assemble the candle boats: Once you have some empty wooden boats, it’s time to stick in some new candles! These boats are then spread out so that they are easy to pick up on the night of the event.

The Candle Floating Part

After all of the candles are lit, girls then place their candles in the lake to float on the water. Here’s how that process goes:

• Grab that canoe paddle! While you don’t want to put out the fire, the candles need a little shove to get them floating away from the dock. Our Men Staff stand on the edge of the lake with their canoe paddles, as they create some small waves in the water. This makes sure the candles begin floating outwards.
• Organize some singing: Our oldest campers sit on the canoe dock and lead singing during the night. From camp songs to praise songs, we sing for a while so that all the candles can make it into the lake. The girls do a great job working together to choose a variety of special songs.
• The unspoken ending part: Wonder what happens when the evening ends? Well, hopefully you’ve never seen it, as we wait until all the girls have returned to their cabins before we begin. All of those candles need to be collected, so our Men Staff hop in canoes and round up all of the candles for us. It’s a depressing sight to see the candles go out!

There you have it! There are other details that go into making the night special, but hopefully you learned some new “Behind the Scenes” info on one of your favorite Evening Programs.

Check back again soon to see what area of camp we are telling you about next!

In the meantime, if you have an area of camp you want to learn more about, comment below and let us know!