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Fall Camp By Dick Oakes |
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Website: https://fallcamp.org/.
Fall Camp had an outstandingly successful debut in 2019 and has continued to provide a wonderful autumn weekend with two master teachers, dance parties, a "potluck band," crafts, and other activities. Camp is held at the Brandeis-Bardin Campus of the American Jewish University near Simi Valley California (40 miles northwest of Los Angeles). It features a delightful combination of a lovely rural setting and creature comforts including motel-style rooms, great food, and more. Fall Camp is sponsored by the Folk Dance Federation of California, South, Inc.
Of Fall Camp, Jan Rayman had this to say in 2026: "We use the large Molle Library in the Conference Center for crafts such as making the head wreaths that Fall Camp is known for, and for board games (mainly Scrabble) and the camp jigsaw puzzle. It’s just a short walk across a small patio to get from the Molle Library to the Wapner room, and people often hang out and socialize in the Molle Library, waiting for dances they like to come up in the program.
When we started the camp, we had nearly 100 people attend and used the large barn-like Recreation Hall for all of our activities, but after a couple of years, climate change made dancing in there an "adventure in temperatures," sometimes cold in the early mornings and then hot in the afternoons. The four foot diameter drum fan, graciously lent to us by the Pasadena Co-op, cooled the Recrecation Hall during the dinner hour (when no one was subjected to its roar) making it comfortable to dance in there after dinner. I made a housing for it, filling in air spaces where it was wedged in one of the barn doors, so that it operated more efficiently. The Recreation Hall had many other problems, including an inadequate 40-amp breaker box, but it had a rustic charm and lots of room. Eventually, we moved to the smaller, but air conditioned Wapner Room, which only accommodates around 65 dancers.
In 2025 we had a floor installer put a white border around the edge of the floor to keep people from stepping off of one of the edges. Also, the flooring company was having trouble that year getting wood panels all of the same wood tone, so this white border solved both problems."
Fall Camp is held in honor of Beverly and Irwin Barr, who for over 30 years with their helpers, worked tirelessly to provide a wonderful folk dance camp every fall at Camp Hess Kramer.