Once each session, on day 7, we change up our schedule at Deerhorn. It used to just be every Sunday, but then we changed our schedule so that it was just day 7 of each session. We started just calling them Special Days, but that wasn’t quite right. So now we call them Deeley Days, and that is a much better fit. Deeley Lyons was Big D’s best friend and worked at camp as a counselor for years and years. (Big D was Patrick, Blaine, and Don’s dad) Deeley was the life of the party and to him, every day was the “best day ever.” At the end of each summer, we award the Deeley to the outstanding counselor of the summer. Deeley is a legend around Deerhorn, and it felt fitting to name our special day each session after the guy who deemed every day at Deerhorn the “best day.”

So today kicked off our first Deeley Day of the summer of 2026. On Deeley Days, we get to sleep in an extra hour and have breakfast at 9. (cinnamon rolls, egg casserole, and sausage). After breakfast, kids get some rare free time around camp to choose their activities, like wiffle ball, ultimate frisbee, or a movie in the hall. Lunch is an hour later, at 1 (grilled cheese and tomato soup) and then at 3 is our big team event. The A session team event is the Treasure Hunt, where kids are sent all over camp gathering items from a scavenger list and compiling them on the beach. The Leader then has to solve a series of clues to find his treasure chest. It was a really fun afternoon of team competition, with the Eagles taking first place, the Wolves taking second, Bobcats third, and Bears fourth. After orange chicken and fried rice for dinner, kids had koogee time, doing a fun activity with their koogeemates and counselor, and we finished this Deeley Day with a Deerhorn campfire.