Camp Green Lane 100th Summer Blog Post, August 1st
There are moments at camp that everyone remembers forever.
Ask any CGLer about their summer and they’ll tell you about friends, trips, favorite canteen treats, and late nights in the cabin. But eventually, the conversation always turns to the same question:
“Where were you when Color War broke in (insert year)?”
Yesterday, that moment arrived.
Everyone had their eyes on the skies all day. For some reason, there seemed to be an inordinate number of planes flying over camp. By Juice Squad, we’d all become immune to the buzzing overhead and went about our day.
Then, just as Juice Squad was ending…
BOOM!
A low-flying plane appeared overhead.
For a split second, everyone just stared.
BOOM!
Screams.
Tears.
Hugs.
Campers and staff sprinting toward BB1. Another fly-by sent everyone racing toward High Ropes.
BOOM!
One final pass… and 1,000 green and white ping pong balls, each stamped with “Color War 2026,” rained down from the sky.
And just like that…
COLOR WAR 2026 HAD BEGUN.
If you’ve never experienced a Color War break, it’s hard to describe the electricity in the air. One moment camp is following its normal schedule. The next, campers and staff are sprinting across camp, cheering at the top of their lungs, hugging friends, and trying to process that the biggest week of the summer has officially arrived.
It’s controlled chaos.
It’s pure joy.
It’s one of Camp Green Lane’s greatest traditions.
For weeks, campers had been trying to predict when it would happen. Every loud noise, every mysterious staff meeting, every unusual delivery sparked whispers of, “Is today the day?”
Yesterday, the answer was finally yes.
From Break, teams were sent on their first mission: collect as many Color War ping pong balls as possible. (Cleaning up camp and earning points for your team? That’s what we call a win-win.) Then everyone headed to rallies to gather with their teams for the very first time.
After shower hour came dinner, and our first silent meal of Color War, which, I have to admit, is one of Upper Staff’s favorite traditions.
We then had the first of several cabin activities, which is two cabins of green and white campers going heat to head in varios sports. Then the evening competition was both female and male staff volleyball, with White taking home victories in both games.
Today started with more cabin activities and rallies before lunch, followed immediately by Symbol Search, where campers raced all over camp searching for cleverly hidden items connected to this year’s themes. Green came out on top, finding five symbols to White’s two.
The afternoon brought more cabin activities, Juice Squad, and additional rallies.
Exhausted yet?
Join the club.
But Color War waits for no one.
Tonight brings Scavenger Hunt and Female Staff Basketball, with plenty more excitement still to come before this unforgettable week is over.
Stay tuned for more Color War coverage from between the Arches!
—Aunt Robin