An extraordinary family is celebrating the 43rd year of the Bannerman Family Thanksgiving Dance Camp: four full days of clogging, puppet shows, live music, fellowship and more. It is the only camp of its kind.
I married into this family, and for the past four years I have been attending this annual camp, a truly remarkable way to reach out and connect with people. This family does not celebrate a lazy Thanksgiving, where a family eats, sleeps and watches football all weekend.
I hope you don’t think I sound too melodramatic; it is hard to explain the relationships and fun that families of many generations experience at Family Camp. The founder, my grandfather-in-law Glenn Bannerman, is an international recreational leader who has spent his life traveling the world teaching interactive dance and games. There is an abundance of fun, family-time and history for the four days of camp in Black Mountain, at the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly.
If you would like more information, check out the website at http://www.bannermanfamily.com/Thanksgiving.htm. The website is full of pictures from last year. At least 150 people [usually] attend, sometimes more — and many of them have been coming since the beginning in 1969.
I hope you find this tradition as inspirational and touching as I have.
P.S. If you check out the website, you will notice a link called “hose play.” That’s a special treat. My grandfather-in-law creates games and crafts using pantyhose.
— Stacia M. Bannerman
Charleston, S.C.
