By Heidi Hailstone, Liberty Camp Youth Council
Liberty Camp is a fun, educational experience for kids and youth. It is a week-long event held annually around Independence Day. Kids, ages 6-11 are put in groups run by older youth. The groups rotate through different stations learning about the founding of our nation, liberty, responsibility, and much more. This year we had emergency personnel from the Fire Station, Police Department, and Gold Cross Ambulance give presentations about what they do and how they do it. We took a tour of the Liberty Bus and also learned how to make old-fashioned candles, write with quill pens, and make homemade healing ointment.
Throughout the week the kids memorized different excerpts from our founding documents such as: the preamble to the Constitution; the preamble to the Declaration of Independence; a simplified version of the Bill of Rights; the second and fourth verses of the Star Spangled Banner; to name a few. Liberty Camp, formerly known as Patriot Camp, has been held in Cedar for 7 years, and this year Enoch held one in their community as well. Shelley Schnieder, a resident of Cedar, heard about Patriot Camp and how great it could be for our community and decided to try it out.