Campfire 2023: Camp Louis Ernst Open House

Campfire 2023 and Open House was a tremendous success with roughly 100 people in attendance. We are excited to finally have some photos available to share with you along with some highlights from the event.

One special part of the Open House celebration was a reading of Camp history in front of the old lodge fireplace. Guests and staff then lit a torch from the hearth and honorary campfire leader, Don Riley, led us to the Irv Schein fire ring for the lighting of Campfire 2023. Special guests in the procession were families of some of our former camp Rangers, and descendants of the Louis Ernst family. Former OA Lodge Chief, Jerry Withered spoke about past campfire events and traditions at Louis Ernst. The singing of Camp songs once again echoed across Miller Lake!

Another high point of the day was the evening retreat on the Parade field attended by over fifty guests. We were honored to have scouts from Batesville Troop 634 perform our Color Guard ceremony and Eagle Scout Dave Sublette play taps on his trumpet just like he did at Camp Louis Ernst in the 1950s.

Additional, Scout Leader and Columbus Disc Golf tournament director, Brian Jones, presented a check for nearly a thousand dollars to FOCLE fundraising chairman Keith Baker left, and President Gene Baker. Forty disc golfers turned out for the Louis Ernst benefit at Ceraland Park in Columbus.

Browse the gallery of photos taken by board member Bob Mattingly at Campfire 2023, our recent open house. It was great seeing everyone and we look forward to seeing you all again. We have many other exciting projects in the works and look forward to sharing those with you.

Thank you to all of you that attended Campfire 2023 and Open House.