By Tanner Haars
When the summer season is into its stride the members of Tom Kita Chara Lodge and the Samoset Council based out of Weston, Wisconsin create some masterpieces for their eight Callout ceremonies on Wednesday evening. Lodge members do some amazing sand art!
It all happens at the Crystal Lake Scout Reservation, home to several of the council's summer camps. One of them is Camp Tesomas, founded in 1935. The sand art tradition began at Camp Tesomas decades ago. According to Tom Kita Chara's Lodge Adviser, Jim Peterson, "the earliest mention of sand painting that I can find is from 1954, although I spoke with a Scouter who attended Camp Tesomas as a Scout in 1953 and remembers there being sand painting then."
How does this sand art actually happen? Actually, "Instead of using sand the lodge uses roofing granules which are donated by the 3-M Corporation's Wausau, WI plant," explained Peterson.
The scout that plays the part of Chingachgook for that particular week selects the design that will be painted into the sand. The camps Order of the Arrow Coordinator maintains responsibility and oversees the project, however, any arrowman, youth or adult, is able to assist with the task. The lines of the design are drawn out first. The bolder lines are drawn into the sand with a larger stick and the smaller lines are drawn with an arrow. The newly created lines are then filled in with the donated roofing granules. The entire process usually takes around six hours, however final touch ups can possibly take even a few hours after that!