News
January 24, 2008
Click here to see pictures of Gwynn Valley covered in a beautiful blanket of Snow.
Promotion Dates and Travel Schedule
2008 Promotion Dates
| January 11 | Dunwoody, GA | Mackesey Family - 6:30 | 770-234-0001 |
| January 13 | Athens, GA | Ballard-Myer Family - 6:30 | 706-613-9876 |
| January 16 | Charlotte, NC | Curme Family - 6:30 | 704-339-0691 |
| January 24th | Tallahassee, FL | Walker Family - 6:30 | 850-385-5154 |
| January 25th | Clearwater, FL | Freedy Family - 3:30 | 727-791-7701 |
| January 27th | Greenville, SC | Carsten Family - 3:00 | 864-299-8824 |
| January 27th | Winter Park, FL | Van Valkenburgh Family - 5:00 | 407-644-9866 |
| January 28th | Gainsville, FL | Dinsmore Family - 6:30 | 352-372-6690 |
| January 29th | Ocala, FL | McCaskill Family - 6:30 | 352-622-9525 |
| January 30th | Ft. Lauderdale, FL | Ross Family - 6:30 | 954-728-8788 |
| February 3 | Cincinnati, OH | Cincinnati Family Magazine Camp Fair | 513-252-0077 |
2007 Promotion Dates
| October 23 | Charlotte, NC | LeBlanc Family - 6:30 | 704-366-5018 |
| October 24 | Charlotte, NC | Joyner Family - 6:30 | 704-529-4999 |
| October 24 | Myrtle Beach, SC | Iseman Family - 6:30 | 843-497-9097 |
| October 25 | Wilmington, NC | Mann Family - 6:30 | 910-762-6335 |
| November 2 | Winston Salem, NC | Cochrane Family - 6:30 | 336-712-0320 |
| November 5 | Chapel Hill, NC | Holloman Family - 6:30 | 919-929-7107 |
| November 6 | Durham, NC | Winslow Family - 6:30 | 919-490-5609 |
| November 7 | Raleigh, NC | Witman Family - 6:30 | 919-327-4320 |
| November 7 | Atlanta, GA | Novella Family - 6:30 | 404-814-9888 |
| November 8 | Atlanta, GA | Eplan/Marcovitch - 6:30 | 404-873-5867 |
| November 11 | Atlanta, GA | Davis Academy Camp Fair | 707-671-0085 |
| November 13 | Lookout Mtn, TN | Dickinson Family - 6:30 | 423-821-6414 |
| November 14 | Nashville, TN | Avinger Family - 6:30 | 615-354-6265 |
December 19, 2007
Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year!
As we get farther into this festive season and approach the beginning of the new year, I’m reminded of all the great memories that are like little gifts that come forth from the summer. Many of you may have received our Millwheel News by now along with countless cards that arrive this time of year. Soon you will be receiving another surprise in the mail to remind you of those great summer days here at camp.
At the end of last summer Tess, from New Zealand, who worked in arts and crafts, gave Anne and me a beautiful and small painted wooden box with the words to a camp song on the outside. It was the last day of camp and campers had all headed home. Our staff were quite busy tying up loose ends for the summer and cleaning up their cabins and program areas. I had forgotten about the box and in the process of cleaning my office after camp, had placed it on a bookshelf and eventually other things got piled on it and it sat there for several months before being rediscovered. About a week ago I pulled it from the shelf and took the strings from around the top that kept the lid on. There in a space about 3 by 3 inches were at least a hundred or maybe more, little pieces of paper that had been meticulously rolled up and packed tightly inside the box. I pulled one out unrolled it and it was from a camper named Michelle, D session, Rosebay cabin. Tess had asked her arts activity campers at some point to write something on a small piece of paper that would be opened later by the directors of camp. Some of these are decorated and most importantly they give us small glimpses, impressions, and pearls of camper thoughts from the summer. I’ve been pulling one out of the box everyday here in the office and am really enjoying these gifts of children’s thoughts from the summer.
As we give and receive this time of year let us all hope and pray for peace and good tidings for people everywhere. Thank you all for coming to this place in our mountains, to a child’s world where discovery, a nurturing environment and a connection to the natural world, make possible the simple joys of childhood. This place, where children are playing outside and growing inside. This place called Gwynn Valley.
From all of us to all of you we wish you JOY, PEACE AND GOOD CHEER,
Anne, Grant and all our staff
August 25, 2007
Greetings Campers, Parents, Staff & Friends,
By now many of you have started back to school and are into your routine at home. We miss the sounds of your laughter and joy here at camp. Camp is a different place during the seasons when you are not here. It’s a foggy morning here at camp and believe it or not we’ve actually had some rain over the past few days. Those of you that were here during the latter part of the summer remember how hot and dry it was. It’s good to see the grass becoming green again and know that the rivers will rise a little after the rains.
We are not the only ones that miss your presence. All the animals at the farm certainly feel your absence. I went down to the farm on Sat. with Jacob and my two nephews who were visiting to gather some eggs. All the calves who you all helped bottle feed and raise this summer began mooing as soon as we crossed the bridge to the farm. They now have officially been weaned and are all hanging out together able to run free and play in the pasture. No more eggs are being incubated and those end of the summer baby chicks are not so like chicks anymore. There are still a few ears of corn to be pulled and tomatoes are still hanging on the wines but other than that it’s pretty empty down at the farm.
Several staff stayed after camp to clean and put everything away for next summer. Tess, Grant, Doug, Jeff, Shelly, Margarita, Tommy, Anne Marie, Dale, Dean, Hayes, Drew, Gio, Anna, Tatitana, Kirsty, Sheldon, Ollie, Oliver and Frank were all here up to a week and a half. Many thanks to all of them for their hard work in putting camp to sleep for the winter.
Andy, Ryan, Anne and I are all busy getting ready for another year. Dates and rates for 2008 are all up on the web and soon you will be getting information in the mail for the new season. I’ve been reviewing video footage from this summer and hopefully we’ll have a new camp video that will be out in October. We hope to start our Fall promotion in October as well so come out and join us for a look at the new footage and photos from the summer. Speaking of photos, hats off to Alex, camp photographer, for taking just over 22,000 pictures this summer that many of you may still be looking at online. We’ll be going through those and picking out some good ones to use in a variety of ways over the months ahead.
Send us updates on your family at home and let us know what you’re doing. Take care and I hope the “simple joys” of life are present wherever you are.
Grant
January 12, 2007
Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season and is enjoying the beginning to the new year. This is travel time for us as we continue our camper promotion and kick off staff recruitment as well. Come out and join us at one of our shows or come join us at one of our camper fairs that may be in your area. Don't forget to bring a friend. Andy is headed to New Zealand and Australia on Sunday to attend several staff fairs in that part of the world as Anne, Grant and Ryan head out on camper recruitment. As we burn the road up there's work going on at camp to prepare for you this coming summer. Maintanence and dredging in the lake is complete and much to our dismay, we didn't find any treasures on the bottom. The usual t-shirt, sunglasses and missing masks and snorkels were the hot ticket. The bridge to the stables is getting rebuilt and being made wider. Dale says it's so wide we'll need to paint lines down the middle. Two way traffic on that bridge! Maybe horses! It's certainly going to be sturdy. We'll be able to drive the Space Shuttle across and it may even be wide enough. Take care!
January 5, 2006 - BIG NEWS FLASH!!!
See a trailer of the movie that was filmed this fall at Gwynn Valley. Log on to backfortyfilms.com and then click on “watch The Simple Things movie trailer.” There are a number of staff and places around camp you might recognize. You can pause and stop action to check certain scenes. You’ll recognize quite a few of our buildings, including the Lodge, Cabin Meadowbrook, Day Camp House, front porch of the Dining Room and Upper Dwellings, plus the bridge that goes over the creek to the farm and other scenes. We’re excited and will keep you posted about further news.
January 3, 2006 - Happy New Year Everyone!
We hope everyone in your family had a fun and joyous holiday! As the new year begins we’re gearing up to hit the road again in the next week or so. Over the holidays we received our new brochure and DVD and will be sending that out to our 2005/2006 campers this week. We’ll be promoting camp in various places throughout our Southeast region in homes and at camper fairs. Below is a growing list of locations we’ll be over the next couple of months. We hope to see you there and please feel free to bring a friend.
In our recent newsletter we let you know that the “Tajar Tracks” CD was out. In that article I placed a note in the newsletter on how to win a copy of the new CD. If you are interested in a chance at receiving a copy of this music sensation please read on. Below are some Homophones. What in the world is that? It’s a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and is spelled differently. Here are some riddles for you to figure out using homophones for the answers. Send in your answers by Jan 20th and we’ll have a drawing here at camp to see who the lucky winner is. Example: A bug relative? ant aunt
- Seven Days of laughing will make you weak.
- A spun globe?
- A hairless grizzly?
- Consumed for more than seven?
- Part of the face that understands?
- A greeting to dried grass?
- A stinky duck?
- To look at the ocean?
- Sixty minutes that belong to us?
- Rabbit fur?
- The most popular hotel?
- To be introduced to roast beef?
- A boat used to transport tiny elves
- Cold hot pepper?
- To lift sunlight?
- A pony with a sore throat?
- Peel a fruit?
- Stories about an animals body part?
- To go away from the last course of the meal?
- A series of breakfast foods?
Good Luck and send those answers to our office at 1080 Island Ford Rd. Brevard, NC 28712 or email Grant at grant@gwynnvalley.com.
Latest Newsletter
Click here to download our 2007 Holiday Edition newsletter.