It’s Funner to Be Weird
Tuesday, July 21st, 2026
STILT FIELD circa 7:47pm—The sun shines dramatically through the Stilt Field shade on an after-dinner bout of soccer. A small group of poi spinners commiserate in the center of the field, oblivious to the game swirling around them. The soccer players seem to naturally avoid the stationary clutch of jugglers, as if it were a natural, immovable obstacle. The activities continue simultaneously in the same space without pause or question, just two versions of fun, soaking up the same patch of sunshine in the last few minutes of free-time.
The conch blows, summoning the campers to the Rainbow Theater for tonight’s program, Weirdo Talent Night. I head backstage to prepare.
“Is ‘Heart Rock Spiral’ ready?” asks Performance Coordinator Kushi Beauchamp, wearing red and white clown makeup and holding a clipboard with the running order. We give her our collective thumbs-up and she hurries off to let the emcees know they can begin the show.
“Give it up for Heart Rock Spiral!” chime the emcee hosts, Adelina and Luna.
“It’s an Andelusian cadence in E-minor, right?” confirms Teen Staff keyboardist Judy. I nod, strapping on the Camp bass, a black and white Mexican-made Fender Jazz. José settles into the kit as the stage hands pass out wireless mics to Silver and Riley.
The song we’re performing to open the show is an original Camp Winnarainbow collaborative piece extolling the virtues of the Heart Rock Spiral, a new area in downtown Camp dedicated to conducting conflict resolution. What began as a simple theme song has taken on a life of its own, blossoming into a fantastical ode to nature and the supernatural. Silver counts us in.
…
LOO-LOO circa 9:52pm—In honor of Weirdo Talent Night, I’m asking children to rate the weirdness of Camp on a scale from 1 to 10.
“7/10—I’m not sure why,” says Milo, 11. “Everyone is weird.”
“Honestly it depends on what you classify as weird,” says Calvin, 12. “For me, I’ve been here so long, Camp is a zero. The first year was weird, but now it’s my new normal.”
“5/10—Medium weird,” says Quincy, 11. “I like weird things. If you come to Camp, be prepared to learn new things. That’s the best part. In order to learn new things you gotta be a little brave and a little weird.”
“8/10—A lot of people don’t go to a clowning camp with tipis,” says Gisele, 11. “Honestly the weirdest thing we saw this session was Larkin falling over on crutches. It was so random.”
“8/10—I don’t really know how to use crutches,” admits Larkin, 11. “Was that really the weirdest thing we saw? I mean, we got invaded by TIS CORP. That was weird. And the robots were really weird.”
“10/10—Everyone has their own interests and people accept you for who you are,” says Madi, 13. “People are inherently weird and Camp just allows it to all come out. The weirdest thing that happened this session was my tipi mate woke up laughing at midnight and then fell back asleep.”
“7/10—Pretty weird; not bad, just weird,” says Zina, 14. “It’s just how unique it is. It’s unlike anywhere else. Being weird is amazing and Camp is amazing, ergo Camp is amazingly weird!”
“9.5/10—There’s just not a lot of outdoor circus camps,” says Lucy, 13. “For example there’s way more Starbucks than there are Camp Winnarainbows. Here everyone is super supportive, you get to know everyone, and there’s no screens. It’s basically the opposite of Starbucks. I don’t even like the smell of coffee, so I would choose Camp over Starbucks any day.”
“7.5/10—Just the amount of things you see here that are out of the ordinary on a daily basis is wild,” says Katie, 15. “It’s a very unique system of camping, very progressive, very welcoming, very accommodating. My favorite thing about Camp is the diversity of people and activities. Where else could you learn to ride a unicycle on a dirt trail with a man named Dinklefritz?”
“5/10—Being weird isn’t bad; being normal isn’t bad either, but it’s funner to be weird,” says Nadia, 13. “Camp is weird because it’s different from the outside world, and it’s normal because it’s comfortable and people are still just people. It’s perfect. I love Camp.”
Stay hydrated,
—J. Payseno, Editor