Wavy Gravy's Camp for Nostalgic Hippies

rgn wlll srRppt.louRmel tupso.q.y, ruly zz, rgggl fi'W aoy Gropy's C amp f or Nosfo lgic Hippie s Gravy (who was then known as Hugh Rom' went to one of those, either. Txil) We By SuslN G. I{nusER ney). These days, Peterprovides computer learned that the camp's spectacular sound securily for the federal government. No system was compliments of the Dead, and : Wtonville, Calif. wonder he likes to get remellowed every that whenever Mr. Gravy reverently men- - "Mommy, what did you do in the '60s?" summer. tloned "Jerry," he was referring to his late . Don't ask. I was boring. I never wore a There is a strict rule at Camp Win- friend and fellow ice cream flavor, Jerry flower in my hat, I didn't return to the narainbow against alcohol and recre- Garcla. land, I was never a hippie, and most em- ational drugs, so camp wasn't all that sim- One of my tepee mates, Susanna, had barassing of all, I wasn't at Woodstock. ilar to Woodstock. But we were expected to been a hippie photographer, chronicling . But in this 30th anniversary year of the get high. Daily classes were il cireus arts Grateful Dead concerts across the land. A famous rock festival, I did the next best such as stilt walking and trapeze. camper named Mary told me tepee living thing; I attended adult camp at Camp Win- Every morning at 8 a.m. the wide- was old hat to her, since she had lived in narainbow, directed by Woodstock legend, girthed Mr. Gravy, with a. derby over hls one in Canada for severai years while '60s icon, Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor, shoulder-length gray hair, and a fish- "dropping acid and walting for Armaged' qfud still a vision in fie-dye at age 63 . tah shaped bag hanging from Ns shoulder, don." She is now a legal investigator for ,fdufl .. Wavy Gravy. Every summer the trudged around the ctcle of tepees, rous- the U.S. Justice Department. Go figure. man in the rubber nose turns his children's ing campers with the blow of a conch shell I felt more affinity for Alicia from prforming arts camp oyer to gmwn-ups, that went by the name of Consciousness. Chicago, who told me she had tried to be ryho try to act as silly for one week as Mr. After brealdast he read to us: poetry by cool during the '60s by growing her hair Gravy does year round. Allen Ginsberg, wisdom lrom long and attending two (count 'em, two) '3 The silliest thing he did , the Tao Te Ching, a chil- SDS meetings. "But I was just pretend- lately was agree to partic- dren's book, the almanac ing," she confessed. ipate in Woodstock '99 or excerpts from his I, too, failed at hipness, unless you want in Rome, N.Y., whose own 1992 autobiogra- to count t]te fact tiat I inhaied. only real linkwith the phy, "Something In fact, I was so wary of this hippie '60s original was ttte Good for a camp that I talked Dianna into sigring up traffic jams on the Change." for only three days, hstead of the full approach mads. By then our week. But at the end of each of our three But here at camp, morning mellow- days, after the nighUy talent show (Yesl . IUr, Gravy runs a ing had just be- Two talent shows in one dayl), and after iluly hip festival of gun. Next we did our head counselor-or, if you prefer, Head his own. tai chi with Mr. counselor-gently admonished. us to ! I flew to San F"ran- Gravy's codirector, "Brush 'em if you've got 'em, soak 'em if cisco, met up with my a clown from Vancou- you bought 'em," I would crawl into my pal Dianna, and together ver, British Columbia sleeping bag with a heavy heart. Yes, our w-e drove north to Mendo- named Tn {pronouncei deparhrre from this ciown utopia was get- cino County, where Win- Chee) Whizz. Once we were ting hard to face. narainbow has been a mellow and flexible, Ms. On our iast night we went to the costume camp Whizz sent us off to our barn to dress for dinner, sifting through beloved summer Camp Wlnnarainbow's logo for kids ages 7 to 14 since morning ciasses. Di- the hundreds of clown suits, parly dtesses 1983. O'.r group of about anna made a beeline for and assorteC cosfumes. Dlanna lccked re- 50 adults ranged from 18 the hapeze; I tried the gal in a rainbow of skirts and scawes. I to 80, though most were aging Baby stilts, and on other days dabbled in improv, passed up the drawer labeled "Gorilla Boomers. One woman came all the waY rhythm, ceramics, labyrinth walking and, Parts" and settled for a goofy hat and hom Indonesia, two guys were from New of course, tie-dye. polka-dotted ensemble. Finally, I was be' Ybrk, one woman was from Chicago; there Before lunch we had a talent show, with grnning to let my hair down, to move To- were two Oregonians besides myself, and most of the campers showing off what they ward the Fun. the rest were Californians. had learned. Every increase in skill was "Toward the Fun," a plaY on the Sufi " One of the New Yorkers, Peter, said this appreciated. For example, a newcomer to expression "toward the One," is Camp was his second year at Camp Winnarain- unicycling was wildly applauded simply Winnarainbow's slogan, while the camp bow. His wife insisted that he return, "be- for being able to sit on the thing. Those director encourages everyone to seek Big cause I was so mellow for so long" after his campers juggling two balls were cheered Fun. If I learned nothing eise during my first adult camp session. I asked Nm if he aiong with those juggling five. three days at camp, I learned that "Have was ever a hippie. After iunch we rode the shuttle van to funl" is the best advice you can oiler any- I "I grew my hair long, I smoked a lot of Lake Veronica, where we could swim out to body. dope and I slept in the park," he said. George Raft, ride the 350-foot waterslide or By the way, Dianna and I will be back "Does that count?" Besides that, he was at play beach-blanket bingo. Mr. Gravy ex- next year, for the fuli week. it's never too the original lVoodstock and had free food plained that everybody piayed bingo back- late to become a hippie. AJter all, it's just a personally dished up for him by Wavy stage at Gratefui Dead concerts. (I never state of mind, man..

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