By Dave (Red) Parker, 1938

Grover & Erma were much aware that the people of Hyampom were our mountain neighbors and they really should know more about Camp Trinity. And that we should know more about them.

So there came the time when Grover invited them to join us at camp for a BBQ and a “program” of music and drama.  The music would be provided by Pete Kennedy and Dudley St. John with their harmonicas or “mouth organs” as we called them. “Turkey in the Straw” was a favorite.

But for the “drama” Grover persuaded ME to write and direct a “radio show” about the camp. So – at 14 or 15, I, Red Parker, became the Camp’s designated Showman. Technically, we rigged up a couple of loudspeakers which we hung from that great oak tree at the Lodge, and with some audio magic we rigged a microphone inside by the fireplace with electricity provided by three car batteries wired together. So technically we were good to GO. All we needed was a script. And that was MY job. But what to write?

I know, THE HISTORY OF CAMP. And what Mr. Gates had in mind when he started it. So, I interviewed Grover and his 4 brothers. And I tried to write in some excitement—like when Jim Gates had to shoot a mountain lion. Or when heavy snow caved in part of the roof of the lodge.  And I included some sound effects, like horses hooves (which we did with short handled toilet plungers pounding on dirt in a box.)

And I was the “story teller” with my teen age voice explaining how Mr. Gates wanted the camp to show how it was in the real western world. Not like the Boy Scouts with all their merit badges.

So – with about 25 people from Hyampom there for music and food—I started “the show”. I’d give a lot if I had that script in my hand as I sit here now, but I think it started like this: “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen — our mountain neighbors from Hyampom — and welcome to Camp Trinity, also known as the Bar 717. We are a group of young men from California who come here every summer to enjoy the outdoors…”

Looking back on it, I’m sure it was terrible – but our guests from down the road clapped like crazy, and Grover insisted that I take a bow. I didn’t know it at the time but that was my introduction to radio acting which found happy fruition in the late 40’s on network shows like “The Lone Ranger” “The Green Hornet” and “The Challenge of the Yukon” with Sergeant Preston and his wonder dog Yukon King. Bow wow wow.

But the BBQ was something special!  We campers had never seen anything like it.  There was a big pit filled with fiery coals that simply radiated heat,  And a slowly rotating device with a pig on it.  And Mrs. Shules kept dousing some kind of brown sauce on it. Delicious!

And our guests from Hyampom smacked their lips and cleaned their paper plates with country bread and as they left they told us we’d have to come down to Hyampom and be their guests next year. Which we did –but that’s another story.

The Community BBQ is still an annual Camp Trinity tradition. We still cook ranch meat over the coals in the stone fire pit, eat our fill of tasty food, and square dance on the lawn with members of the local community.

About the author: Dave “Red” Parker was a camper at Camp Trinity on the Bar 717 Ranch in the 1930s. He has a Ph.D. from Northwestern (1955) and has taught at Wayne University, San Francisco State University, and Stanford. His major subject was Speech & Drama. Dave was also a radio actor on The Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet, and Challenge of the Yukon in the old days (1948-1951) and served in the Air Corps in WWII (1943-1946). In his later years he and his wife had a video production company (Parker Productions) which created and distributed informational films.