2009 Illustrated
Right now, as I start writing this column, it’s the middle of November—November 15 to be precise. Today is the last day of the Film Festival (which I’m missing because I’m writing this column). Outside the sun has just started to shine for the first time in days—feels like weeks. Thanksgiving is next; then comes Christmas, and New Year, and time to start everything all over again.
Cliché or not, this time of year somehow demands that we look back at the preceding months, if nothing more than to assure ourselves that all that stress and rush was really worth it in the end. For a month by month look at the year, I have to do nothing more than click over to my digital photo files. The download dates are the file names, so there we have it, the whole year-to-date laid out in chronological order—and I might add, in far better order than the decades of old photos languishing in boxes and drawers in my studio.
So I set myself some rules. First, pick only one photo from each month; two, don’t use anything previously published in Letters; three, find the story.
Back in January of this year, a year-and-a-half of construction was coming to a close and we were getting ready to open our brand new building here at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. In anticipation, I started working on some designs for a ribbon cutting invitation. Somewhere along the way, Kathy Weir had delivered these large plastic scissors into my hands. I added some ribbon in rainbow colors and snapped a few trial shots. We ended up scrapping the invitation but the image is spot- on where we were at the time—all wrapped up in getting the new building open and fully operational.
Much of February and March continued to be about the space—inside and out—and as the winter passed, the final pieces fell into place. In the first weeks of February, our Another Take Film Series in partnership with the Rehoboth Beach Film Society, and the Mardi Gras Chef’s Showdown for Main Street inaugurated the space. I shot the house and heart sign on a crisp but beautiful day in February, a few days before the doors quietly opened for the first time.
Inside the building, this long hallway behind the stage was designed to gently make the old building handicapped accessible without the need for a monstrous, twisting, space-consuming ramp on the front of the building.
Celebrities and politics filled up three of the year’s spots. In April, the Jefferson School made CAMP Rehoboth one of the benefactors of their Joan Rivers concert at the Convention Center. At the sponsor’s party I shot plenty of CAMPshots with Joan Rivers. For this story, her autograph will do just fine—and the chest, by the way, belongs to Dan Truitt.
In the most thrilling moment of the year, Governor Jack Markell put his “autograph” on a bill years in the making—and he did it in front of a decidedly supportive crowd at the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center when he signed SB 121 into law on July 2.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Bruce Vilanch captured the August spot just because he’s made us laugh for so many years—even when we didn’t know it was coming from him. In this shot, he’s taking a break from, that’s right, signing autographs!
I’ve always been fascinated by patterns, which is why, I suppose, I shot this stack of chairs in the Community Center. I’ve gotten very familiar with this stack of chairs over the months that the new building has been open, and it represents one of the major issues we’ve faced this season—how to grow and manage our volunteer and leadership teams to be able to support the increased size and demands of our new facility. Even something so seemingly simple as setting up chairs and tables are part of the process.
Though the LottoHEART event took place in July (a month already taken) I shot this LottoHEART rose painting in June, just before the LottoHEART preview party at CAMP Rehoboth. Art has always been a part of the mission of CAMP Rehoboth and the CAMP Rehoboth Artist Group played a big role in the success of LottoHEART. The Art Group, by the way, is open to all artists in the community.
As summer came to its inevitable end, we said farewell to that fair season in our usual way, as we danced the Sundance for the twenty-second time. With Labor Day falling as late as it can, both nights of Sundance fell well into September, leaving room for this backstage view of the Sundance sunburst.
As September turned into October, a bit of Rehoboth history stopped by CAMP Rehoboth in the form of Randall Godwin, the owner of the Nomad Village. This shot was taken in front of the Founders’ Circle wall in the main room of the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center and shows Randall beside his name on the wall. I guess I chose it for what it says about continuity.
Finally, for me, the fall has been about the launch of our new web site. It’s not perfect yet, but we’re up and running. By my estimation, it will be one of the most significant steps for our organization this year—allowing us to provide much better service both for our organization and for the people in our community.
I said finally a moment ago, but “finally” isn’t really here yet, is it? After all, this is only mid-November and who knows what my December shot-of-the-month will be. I like that actually, that the story’s not quite finished. It never is.
Things changed a lot this year at CAMP Rehoboth and that change will continue next month and next year and into the new decade. In 2010, our new long-range planning team will get underway, and one of the key points up for discussion is how we smoothly pass this organization on to a new generation. Exciting times are ahead for CAMP Rehoboth, and our house has, I believe, a heart big enough for all who enter. Happy Holidays.
Murray Archibald, Founder and President of the Board of Directors of CAMP Rehoboth, is an artist in Rehoboth Beach.