Gooseberry

Class picture with smokey the bear and Elle the elephant


Watching the blacksmith

Doing the do-se-do with dad

Bedtime!

Holding worms at the ecosystem workshop

Antelope horns at the wildlife workshop

Measuring trees at the forestry workshop

Sekoya and Bricklee

Making a twisted rope

It rained for a little bit

throwing the atl latle (spelling?)

Fire Safety

This explanation of the field trip was taken from a blog of someone who did not grow up in Richfield.

What is Gooseberry? Our school district for the last 32 years has taken the entire third grade class camping overnight each September. It is held at the Fishlake Forest Service campground called Gooseberry. (As a bit of local education... you don't say it as two seperate words. It is not "goose / berry" is it more "goozberry".)

This year the class arrived around lunch time and had a scavenger hunt. They then made headbands by pounding leaves and berries onto cloth strips with rocks. The rest of the afternoon was spent circulating through different classes such as archeology, orienteering, stream ecology, etc.

Dinner was spent with any parents who could make the trek up the mountain. After this we enjoyed a demonstration from a blacksmith. He made mini axes and a leaf pendant that would be given away by drawing. The kids loved that.

All of this is leading up to the highlight of the whole two days.... Annie Bangs. You are not a true resident of Sevier County until you have experienced Annie. I've heard lots of versions of the legend of Annie Bangs but basically a little girl lived in a cabin at Gooseberry with her family a long time ago. During a very cold winter the entire family freezes, but Annie. Some versions of the legend have Annie being raised by wolves. Despite the version told, a few points are the same.... Annie still lives in the mountains of Gooseberry. Being raised as a wild animal, she has no social skills. She loves the color red and thus whenever she is seen she is wearing that color. She is drawn back to Gooseberry out of curiousity whenever she hears the sound of children.....

Each year the experience is basically the same. All the kids turn out their flashlights and the lights of the campground are put out. A ranger tells his version of the story of Annie Bangs around the flickering light of the fire. The tension builds. It is dark. It is cold. The students then go into the clearing in the middle of the campground and sing the "Annie Bangs" song to draw in Annie. It is a horrible song that goes something like, "Annie Bangs.... you have the cutest little Shiny Fangs"..... (I'm not kidding here). Just when the tension is at it's highest, you will start seeing glimpses of someone in a red dress in the trees. It is pretty freaky even when you know it is really one of the High School track team in a dress and mask. Sometimes Annie will charge out of the trees and get kind of close to the kids. They all scream. Some cry. It is traumatic. The kids love it.

Well Annie Bangs was REALLY scary this year. Maybe they figured that these kids are used to more violence in their world as this year they had THREE Annie Bangs appearing at different times out of nowhere. She buzzed THROUGH the crowd, brushing up against people. She leaped picnic tables and threw metal garbage cans. She even grabbed one child and ran off with him for about thirty feet. It was really freaky. It sounds absolutely barbaric, and really it kind of is. The kids scream and some cry. But the kids wear the experience like a badge of honor. Their siblings and many of their parents have all experienced it and survived, and now they have, too. It is the Sevier County rite of passage.

One year Gooseberry got rained out and a whole class did not get to come. Over the next few years the parents of those students brought them up to Gooseberry as an older child just so they could experience the legend of Annie for themselves.

I'll agree it's strange, but it is part of living in Richfield. A strange part, but part of it just the same.



More fire safety workshop

Mapping workshop

Sekoya decided she wanted her dad to go with her to Gooseberry. They would pitch a tent and sleep in it since dads aren't allowed in the girls' cabins. I was really sad and bummed that I wasn't going to get to share this with her. At the last minute I decided to go at least go up for dinner. I packed an overnight bag just in case. Actually, Sekoya had a really hard time deciding who to stay with her. She was so concerned over hurting one of our feelings.

More to come.....