Host of New Facilities Ready to Receive Campers in 2021

By Kathy Dix

Though camp was cancelled this summer, not everyone got the word. The groundhogs were everywhere, popping up all over the ballfield, more plentiful than ever before. “Oddly, they left abruptly the last month we were there,” says Bart Vollmer. “We need all the girls around to scare them back into the woods!”

As usual, many deer stayed on campus, but, strangely, no hornets were seen, and no bats. Bart, who has been the first to camp and the last to leave since the buildout began in 2008, also observed that the crab apple trees did not produce this year. Every summer, there is some species that turns out in droves. Let the summer of 2021 be the return of the girls. And when they do return, the campus will look a little different, thanks to the projects completed this summer.

PICKLEBALL COURTS 

The site of the new pickleball courts (Duane Sjoblom)

One of the fastest growing sports in the country is coming to Ogichi. Combining elements of tennis, ping-pong and racquetball, pickleball is played with wooden paddles and a whiffle ball. Though it can be played as singles, it’s usually played as doubles, with the games lasting about 15 minutes.

This summer, two 25-by-50-foot courts were built on the unusually quiet ballfield. Ben Commerford and Kevin Henderson helped Bart do the prep work and grading. Ben, Bart and Vern Swenson, a local concrete expert, then poured the heavily reinforced first court. The second court, in a separate pour, was completed in September by Bart and Vern. Duane Sjoblom, a landscaper, then leveled the ground around the courts with dirt and re-seeded the area.

“It’s really pretty—the girls are going to love it,” Bart says. Bart will finish the project this spring by painting the surface and lines. Knowing how popular the sport is likely to be, we might also need to build some bleachers!

INFIRMARY ADDITION

This spring, as we were developing Covid-related plans and precautions, Bart and Peggy got right to work on an addition to Ogichi’s infirmary: two private rooms with private bathrooms and a separate entrance. The rooms were deemed an important part of Ogichi’s risk management plan, given the spread of the coronavirus. In the future, they will make excellent housing for staff trainers and medical interns from the University of Cincinnati. 

Bart and Peggy poured the foundation, did the slab work and put up the walls before calling on three Kooch staffers—Roger Miller, Kyle Siebert and Blake Johnson—to help to lift the trusses and metal roof into place. Bart will complete the interior work this spring.

WELCOME CENTER & BOATBUILDING SHOP

The new welcome center (Peggy Vollmer)

If you park in the Ogichi parking lot and walk up the road toward the campus, the combined Welcome Center and boatbuilding shop is now the first building you see. “It’s my favorite building on campus!” says Peggy. “By far the most fun and gratifying project of the summer—both designing it and how it turned out,” adds Bart.

On the right side of the open-air Welcome Center, a big sliding door opens up to a beautiful boatbuilding space complete with workbenches, handmade stools and a newly built skin-on-frame canoe strung from the rafters. Six large lockers on the Welcome Center side provide additional storage.

HANDWASHING STATION

If you’ve looked at the Ogichi webcam lately, you know exactly what the new handwashing station looks like—and so do the deer and other animals that take over camp during the fall, winter and spring. Two 60-inch-diameter Bradley washstands will be installed in the spring, each with a 360-degree pedal ring that makes handwashing a highly social group experience between activities and before meals. And while the coronavirus has made this project a priority, it’s been in the plans all along. 

FIELD & GROUNDS

Ann Simmons (Liz Hattemer)

Without 200 meals to cook three times a day, Peggy turned her attention to beautifying the field and grounds. Without a doubt, the trimming, pruning, cutting, watering and fertilizing have Ogichi’s campus looking better than ever.

CABIN FLOORS

Ann Simmons, Ogichi’s chairwoman and sister-in-law to George Simmons—who resides on Grindstone Island during the summers—drove from California to Rainy Lake with her husband David to visit to George and sand, paint and varnish each and every cabin floor at Ogichi.

That includes 16 porches, 8 common rooms and all the bathrooms and washhouses! Smooth floors that could be cleaned easily have long been a dream our ours, if there ever was time. Covid-related planning put that extra ease of cleanliness at the top of the to-do list. And without camp, there was plenty of time.

In addition, Bart replaced the wooden flooring in front of the shower stalls in two Chickadee cabins—Painted Turtle and Dragonfly—with fiberglass flooring. It turns out that about as much water comes out of the showers as stays in!

This article was originally published in the Fall 2020 issue of Songs of the Paddle.