Monday, November 14, 2011

I've waited nearly 55 years to find a Camp Clark T-Shirt and hat.






Here is how it happen. Pete Mandell sent me a treasure trove of old Camp Clark articles and pamphlets. One of the first things that caught my eye was a great clean piece of artwork here it is below.

This "original" artwork was part of pamphlet.  Which can be seen here. As I said the moment I saw it I knew I was soon going to have a Camp Clark t-shirt.

In the mornings I have coffee at the local coffee shop. Directly across the street is a small printing business that also does silk screening and embroidery on hats, jackets and t-shirts.

My dad was a printer and I spent many a day with him at his shop and at local newspapers he worked at including The New Bedford Standard Times. My first real job was working in the circulation department  of one of those newspapers. I guess you can say I inherited "printer's ink in my blood".

I took the artwork to the printshop where we worked out sizing it and arranging to having it digitized (for embroidering).

I decided to get myself some t-shirts and a hat or two. As we all know custom made articles are expensive for a single copy..... but order a dozen or so and it gets cheaper.  Added some different sizes and colors and presto you have an initial t-shirt order. But a dozen or so is a lot of t-shirts for one guy. This is where the plan took a slight turn.

I would never have gotten the chance to finally have a Camp Clark t-shirt if it wasn't for Pete Mandell.  I decided Pete needed a t-shirt (or two) and then Joe Larson has offered so much to the history and encouragement for the website.... so it made sense Joe should have a t-shirt.  That took care of part of the initial order. One went to my wife as a reward for listening to me tell Camp Clark stories (repeatedly) for the last 40+ years and one went to my oldest sister who celebrated every time I left for camp.

I kept one of each color for myself.

Stay tuned there is more to the story and my plan.