• Camp Out Night In The Park 2019

Wildomar's sixth annual camp out was a huge success.

A small sampling of the camping area.

I lost count of how many people approached me to thank Wildomar for hosting such a fun event. 

Bridgette Moore waves, while young Sarah Gross (in blue) looks on over her right shoulder. Janet Morales is busy looking over the roster of campers as she gets ready to check in more people.

The cost was five dollars per camper, and for that nominal fee each camper received a shirt, two slices of Pie Nation pizza, s'mores, security guarded camping area and Dunkin Donuts coffee, hot chocolate and donuts.

A small sampling of the camping area.

Also available to all park goers were the various games, and the movie... 1985 classic —The Goonies.

A traditional bounce house, and a double tube slip in slide beyond compare.

This was a much enjoyed feature.

Where were these kinds of bubbles when I was a kid?

Testing one's skills on the Wildomar cornhole boards.

Connect Four... like never before.

Tug of war saw small struggles and large ones.
(See sequence image below)

This was the last tug of war battle of the evening.
It was kids v parents.
It wasn't even close. ☺

I've been to all the camp out events, and this was certainly the biggest crowd to date, in fact it was a sell out. Of the 216 that pre registered, only two families were no shows, leaving the total well over 200. I've heard talk that next year could see the limit raised to 250 campers.

We're starting to get spoiled by the generosity of Faith Bible Church and their high quality ice cream products that have been a common sight for more than a year at Wildomar park events.

Clinton Keith Dental Group has been a major sponsor for all of Wildomar's 2019 park events.

Kenny Mayes of Friends of the Library and Wildomar librarian Sandra Brautigam were signing people up for their Summer reading programs.

Families enjoying pizza time. 

Getting a good spot for the movie.

The next morning greeted the campers with coffee, hot chocolate and a variety of donuts from Wildomar's Dunkin Donuts.

Real coffee at the park at 7am on a Sunday?

Lot's of "please" and "thank yous" were heard as DD's treats were handed out.

Little cups for hot chocolate, and bigger cups for the coffee.

This is just one of countless groups of siblings that enjoyed the 2019 Camp Out event.

This event, and most other park events have only been successful due to the patience, steadfastness and determination of a handful of people. 

I can't imagine what our parks and/or events would be like without the countless hours put in by Bridgette Moore, Janet Morales and Daniel Torres over the years.

L to R: Cameron Luna, Daniel Torres, Joseph (nice legs) Morabito, Janet Morales, Christy Bowen (kneeling), Mr. Dunkin Donuts —Mike Stout, Bridgette Moore and two campers.

Of course there are many others that have been invaluable helpers throughout the years, but those three have been the make or break difference when it comes to Wildomar parks and events.

Thank you for what you've done to make Wildomar's parks and events memory making places.

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Bubbles, bubbles everywhere, and not a drop to drink... yet.
– Willy Wonka

If Wildomar Rap were a bubble, it would be made of cement and not subject to popping... unlike the soap, champaign, or snot varieties.

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• Camp Out Night In The Park 2015

A great turn out for the 2015 Camp Out in the Park at Marna O'Brien Park.

The community enjoying a balmy Summer's evening before the show.  Photo courtesy of  Bridgette Moore. 

105 campers checked in, and it was estimated that 200 were in attendance for the movie, which was Penguins of Madagascar.

You can see the camper's tents in the background. Photo courtesy of  Bridgette Moore. 

Before the movie, the kids were entertained with various games by The Game Master, a popular part of many Wildomar events. Among the favorite games is the egg toss and the tug of war.

Can you see the egg that is midair in the picture above? 

The snack bar had two special treats.

In the evening, slices of Pie Nation's Pepperoni and BBQ Chicken pizza were being sold for $2 each (and they were pretty good size too).

The next morning, breakfast burritos from El Comal were had for $5 apiece. We got one of each, an egg and chorizo and an egg and potato. Both were great, especially with the salsa!

Mrs. Wildomar Rap, Grace Morabito, chowing down on an El Comal BB (Breakfast Burrito).

The snack bar was run by Wildomar Chamber of Commerce.

Our city officials were out in force as usual for this event. For the movie I saw City Council Member Tim Walker, Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore, and Mayor Ben Benoit. Also Planning Commissioners Bobby Swann and Stan Smith. Also there was EVMWD board member George Cambero, City Manager Gary Nordquist, City Analyst (I think that's her title) Janet Morales and parks man extraordinaire Daniel Torres.

Of those, Bridgette Moore, Janet Morales and Gary Nordquist all slept at the park... in separate tents of course. ☺

Thanks again to all those that made this event a success. The people of Wildomar appreciate your valiant efforts.

•      •      • 

Camping is nature's way of promoting the motel business.
― Dave Barry

Wildomar Rap was the master at building forts from couch cushions, pillows, blankets and end tables.

• Wildomar Camp Out In the Park/ Movie Night 2014

Nothing like taking a stroll on a cool August Saturday evening at the local park, and bumping into crowd of happy people. Soccer players, basketball players, random park goers and then there was the official city event too...

Marna O'Brien park was the setting for another Movie in the Park event... coupled with Camp Out Night. I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to the number of campers out there. I was just quipping to my brother that some people are "glass half full" types, and others are "glass half empty" types... but I think I'm more like a "the glass is bone dry" type. So I was expecting there to be about 3 tents out there.

Instead, last count had the number at 35 campsites. Pretty good for an event that doesn't have years of lore behind it. I can just imagine how packed the park will be as the 5th and 10th annual Camp Out at the Park roll around.

With the days already getting markedly shorter, the movie was set to start shortly after 8:00pm, and it was amply dark enough to see the screen. The last Marna movie night was a bit more difficult to see for the first 10 mins or so because of the lingering twilight sky.

In the run up to the movie, there were activities for people to participate in. The boy scouts had an area, as did the sheriff's department.

While walking my dogs around the perimeter, I ended up stopping to talk to many people. Four of our five city council members were in attendance... can anyone guess who was absent?

I can just hear the snide comments from the Cantankerotti now... let's check in with them, shall we?

Lo and behold there were ants at the park. Though I'd be happy to dump a 50 gallon drum of DDT on them, somehow I'm thinking my esteemed friends prefer unilateral disarmament where we simply just padlock the parks instead.

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Well, if that were the case [campaigning by the incumbents], they sure are lousy at it. No banners, no shirts, no hats, no buttons, no chatter, no nothing about the campaign. Just a night for WildoMartinis to go out and enjoy an August evening. Come on guys (and Madam Mayor)... press the flesh until your palms turn white next time. ^.^ 

Missing from the smorgasbord of free publicity were candidates Andre and Leija. There are more events scheduled before the election, perhaps they will join in the fun next time... I mean, they do want to represent this city... right?

Click to get to the official city calendar of events.

A quick count on those that came out. The estimate is 150 that came for the movie. 20 or so that manned the various booths and 35 spots that were reserved with at least 2 campers, some with families of 6... and at least 2 (my wife and me) that came for the pre movie festivities only.

Check out a few more pics to get a feel of the evening.

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Wildomar Rap, laughing in the face of rogue fire ants since before the dawn of time. If you'd like to keep abreast of new blogs I post, slide on over facebook and like my page there.