Come one, come all to Camp Meade’s Winter S’morestice Celebration to help create the world’s largest s’more and celebrate the light and warmth of the historic fireplace built for Camp Meade, Middlesex, with the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.
The December 29 event features music, food, fire artists and dancers as well as “burnaments,” which folks will affix to a bonfire structure and send them off into the great beyond. There will be an evergreen maze as well as a bouncy house for kids.
This holiday, New Year and solstice celebration will offer family-friendly fun, fun with fires and, of course, the world’s largest s’more. It gets underway at 4:30 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m.
The cracker portion of the s’more will be baked on site by the bakers at Red Hen. These very same bakers will also make the marshmallows that will grace the giant s’more. Nutty Steph’s chocolatiers will provide the essential chocolate for the Middlesex world record s’more, which will be approximately 4 by 8 feet.
“We invite people of all ages and stripes to come and help assemble the oversized s’mores and then when assembled and all the ingredients melded together we will cut it up and hand out s’mores to all attendees on a first come, first served basis. All of this will be overseen by our official s’moresters shepherds appropriately attired for the gravity of the rituals,” said organizer Russ Bennett, one of the three principals in Planetary Matters. Bennett, Mike Pelchar and Allan Newman purchased the property about a year ago and formed the company.
The fire-centric focus of the event goes beyond the giant bonfire. There will be warming barrels of fires for hanging around and a large urn of fire for warmth and conviviality. There will be performances by Cirque de Fuego, a troupe of fire breathing and twirling artists and others. There will also be a couple of propane-fired poofers that will poof fire from time to time just for fun.
Music will be provided by DJ Newt Wells of Peak Entertainment and there will be a bar with beer, wine and hot chocolate and a food truck with focaccia and soups from Red Hen and more.
The Middlesex Volunteer Fire Department will be on hand to hose things down as needed. People will also be able to learn about the importance of becoming a member of the fire department and volunteering to be part of the team that protects the community.
“We would like to have everyone decorate the large evergreen burning bush sculpture that will then warm us all. We encourage everyone to bring a note or message or memento that has some meaning to them, a memory of some kind. They could be about the past (last year’s resolutions perhaps) or the future (next year’s hope for the future) and attach them to what will become our bonfire once it is lit. These will be our burnaments and they can be hung on the structure from now until it goes up in smoke,” Bennett said.
“Come attired in garb strung with lights. A hat with lights; a suit that glows. We are turning the corner from the longest, darkest days to the new fresh and lighter days ahead,” he added.
