PEABODY — Friends and family packed the Higgins Middle School auditorium Friday to watch summer campers graduate from this year’s Essex County Summer Day Program.
At the ceremony, Program Director James Runner also led a giveaway of 16 bikes and helmets to camp graduates, made possible thanks to a donation from Walmart. Runner also gave away an additional Minnie Mouse helmet and Disney princess bike complete with tassels and heart-shaped bike pedals to one future camper in the audience.
“These kids are going to be riding smart and hard,” Runner said. “I love my job. I feel like Santa Claus.”
The graduation ceremony was the culmination of the two-week Essex County Summer Day Program, a longstanding tradition on the North Shore.
State Rep. Paul Tucker, who is in the running to replace departing Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and currently represents the 7th Essex District, attended the event Friday. Tucker is a vocal supporter of the Essex County Summer Day Program and helped start the camp 28 years ago when it was based in Salem. Today, the City of Peabody hosts the camp with help from 11 North Shore police departments and the Essex District Attorney’s Office.
“It’s been a bit of a homecoming for me,” Tucker said. “Some of the parents that are here were campers when we first started and I think that goes to show the sustainability of what we’ve built here.”
School resource officers from Beverly, Danvers, Ipswitch, Lynn, Lynnfield, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem, Saugus, and Swampscott police departments predominantly run the Essex County Summer Day Program. Lynn Police Officer Oren Wright first started working at the camp 24 years ago. This summer was his first one back, following a two year hiatus due to the pandemic.
“I didn’t realize how much I was going to miss it,” Wright said. “I’ve been a police officer for 25 years plus change, and personally, it’s the program that really makes me feel like I did something — like I touched somebody.”
Wright jokingly refers to the Essex County Summer Day Program as the “safest summer camp in the state” because it is mainly run by police officers. He said they promise parents a tired kid who will need dinner, a shower, and to go to bed early after a day at the camp.
This year, campers were mainly children preparing to enter the fourth or fifth grade. Wright said they try to enroll students who may not be able to afford to attend another summer camp as the Essex County Summer Day Program is free for all participants. Nearly 400 children took advantage of the opportunity this year, according to Wright.
Participants were divided into 11 teams with different animal names. Wright’s team, the dragons, was the only one to have a name based on a fictitious animal which he said made his campers feel particularly special.
Team leaders, like Wright, teach campers about anti-violence, anti-drugs, and anti-bullying curriculum for 15 minutes per day. Some days are spent bowling, visiting the aquarium, and going to the movies. Other activities include making bracelets, singing, and dancing.
“I tell people if you can’t be goofy for 10-year-olds, then I can’t use you,” Wright said. “But there’s not one person working there that doesn’t fall in love with it.”
Rachel Barber can be reached at [email protected].