A tradition at many summer and sleep-away camps, Color War at Camp Harmony is almost 50 years old and a truly unique experience!
Color War is not really a war. It is actually three days of ridiculous FUN! The entire camp is split into teams, which follow a different theme every year. In past year’s we’ve done pairings like Coke vs. Pepsi; Love vs. Money; Disney vs. Warner Brothers; Planes vs. Trains vs. Automobiles and many others. If a program doesn’t pose safety risks (like pool safety or Archery), it’s going to be very silly and designed to make kids laugh...Color War is no exception!
Color War breakout has become an event in itself. While the three days of Color War are, themselves, scheduled (so people can plan vacations accordingly), how Color War will break is anyone’s guess! We’ve broken with planes, police cars, fire trucks, skydivers, limousines – and that’s just been in the past few years.
The two teams are led by staff members who are selected as Captains – their identities only known to a handful of people before their names, too, are broken to the whole Camp. These staff members (1 Head Captain and 3 Captains) take on a great responsibility over these 3 Camp days and have the trust of the Administrative staff to lead the teams in a fun, responsible competition.
Signs, posters, streamers, 3-D creations and so much more fill the Camp from top to bottom, inside and out. Our Dining Room, blanketed in signs and streamers for those 3 days, becomes the center of this transformation!
In the end, even after 3 days of fun competition (swim races, obstacle courses, etc.) we remind our campers that the teams are not at War. On that third and final day, both teams come together after Lunch to sing a joint song (usually a tearjerker about Camp coming to an end) and the Camp unites for the last 2 weeks of summer.
What will this summer’s theme be? Who knows! But here are a list of all the previous Color Wars in Camp Harmony history:
