1987: Everyone was at the counselor auction, which at the time was run by the counselors and was not on July 4th. Towards the end of the auction Stu said, And how much would you pay for these little beauties? With that, the advisors came running out out of the crowd and broke Color War.
1988: The camp was scheduled for a magic show on the junior baseball field with the stage set up in deep left field. As the show went on, the magician called eight senior staff members up on stage for a trick. Soon into the trick, the eight of them took off their shirts and had C-O-L-O-R W-A-R spelled out across their chests in orange and black and the advisors came flying out the mess hall via the loading dock. .
1989: A helicopter flew over the dining hall as all campers were at the flag pole. Orange and black streamers were shooting out of the chopper. The helicopter landed on the junior baseball field, and Peter Hirsch got out of the chopper with a color war shirt on.
1990: There were rumors circulating throughout camp that second-year counselors Randy Bigelman and Jeff Saxman had gotten into trouble at a concert. People were hearing all sorts of things such as them getting arrested or being involved in a knife fight. At the flag lowering, a police car pulls up to the parade grounds and a cop gets out and begins whispering to Stu. After the whispers, Stu calls for Randy to come over. The cop puts Biegs in cuffs and puts him in the back of the car and drives off. There’s a ton of murmuring in the crowd, and Stu rips into the camp saying how this man has gone out and ruined his life because of his poor decisions and all we care about is color war. Soon after, when everyone was feeling guilty, Randy comes busting through the mess hall doors and the advisors go crazy.
1991: One day at assembly, Howie Hoffman was singing. Stu Foster asked him to stop, but Howie continued to sing. A fight ensued between the two, and in his frustration, Stu grabbed Howie's guitar and smashed it against a tree in the assembly area and said color war has just broken.
1992: On three or four separate occasions throughout the summer of ‘92, Stu sent the campers into the mess hall after the flag was lowered and then when he rang the bell and they weren’t quiet, he sent them back out to the parade grounds to do it right. One day, Stu used this tactic but was taking a particularly long time at the parade grounds, saying that the campers were not paying attention and not behaving. As they were quieting down the head of the Kitchen Staff, Terry Landry, came storming out of the kitchen, furious, to yell that dinner was getting cold. He proceeded to smack Stu's clipboard out of his hand, as the advisors came streaming down the bunk line.
1993: Everyone was at the play and some of the seniors were performing a skit in which they were frequently using obscene words. Stu Foster was yelling at the head of drama, who was yelling back, standing up for her show. Finally Stu said, “So what do you want to do about it?” And the head of drama responded, “Let’s break Color War!” With that, all of the advisors who were involved ripped off their shirts and started screaming Color War.
1994: One Thursday night at cookout dinner, Kerry was climbing the climbing wall when she suddenly fell and was left hanging by her harness. People huddled around her crying and praying as a camp van drove up to take her to the hospital. At this moment, with the whole camps eyes on the back of the van, the advisors piled out of the trunk screaming, COLOR WAR!
1995: Lodge ’95 had done a ton of Fakes this year and most were not very good. One day, Randy Biegelman pulled the Lodge into the old 15s Lounge (now the counselor email/package building) and painted them up a little. At flag lowering, they did yet another break. As soon as the break began, Stu started blowing his whistle, rounded them up, chewed them out and blamed Jon Mann for setting it up. Stu ushered the Lodge straight into the shower house and as soon as they got there, the real advisors came sprinting toward the parade grounds from the mess hall side, as the Lodge sprinted back out of the showers.
1996: The camp was watching the Summer Olympics when suddenly the screen cut to a shirtless Randy Biegelman standing in the desert screaming as the advisors jumped out and broke color war.
1997: While standing waiting for the flag lowering, the distant rumble of a helicopter came towards the camp. Slowly getting louder and louder until it was over campers heads. Then black and orange streamers starting flying from the helicopter at all of the campers until the copter made its decent onto the junior baseball field. Stepping from the helicopter was Whitey with a Mohawk, one side of his head painted orange and the other black.
1998: One random morning, the camp was lined up in the parade ground for the morning flag raising. Jon Mann was addressing the camp when a weird drumming came from the junior baseball field. Curiously, the camp slowly trickled over to the field to find out what was going on. When they got there, they discovered the mysterious noise was Greg Whitey Winter, the color war commish, standing on the field flanked by drumming advisors. When the camp got to the field, Billy Rubenstein and Jordy Brenner were throwing orange and black streamers from the roof of the mess hall. Whitey announced color war had broken.
1999: One dinner in mid-July the camp was informed that it was Barbara’s birthday. The mess hall was decorated with balloons and a big sign that said Happy Birthday Barbara. Jon Mann called Barbara to the fireplace and the camp began to sing happy birthday. The kitchen staff brought the cake out during the song and put it on a table. On the last 'you' of the song, Lt. Chris Buckley jumped from under the table via trap door, knocking the fake cake to the ground, as the camp went crazy.
2000: One evening assembly, Marcin drove his cart next to Jon and pulled a color war flag out of the back. Some of the advisors were in the back of his cart who jumped out and broke color war.
2001: One night at dinner, the mess hall was getting extremely rowdy. Throughout the meal, Jon Mann had to get up to the ring the bell and yell at the campers to eat their dinner. In the midst of the chaos, one of the advisors started a skip around the room chant. Jon Mann skipped into the entrance of the kitchen, where the rest of the advisors were waiting. As soon as he re-entered the room through the exit sign, the advisors followed him out and broke color war.
2002: Stoney and a few other counselors started a color war chant at senior camp captain speeches, which the whole camp had been invited to, and when the crowd was excited enough the advisors broke color war.
2003: Tubby came to camp to present his newest flavor of ice cream, Camp Andro. He came with a giant tub of it and gave a few kids samples. At the end of a speech thanking the camp for the support he received, he ended his speech by opening up the vat and emptying its contents of orange and black confetti onto the parade grounds while yelling Color War!.
2004: With only a few possible times to break color war left, most people expected a cookout break. Unfortunately, the lodge had a social that night, making it unlikely that the break would happen. As the whole camp looked on, the lodge vans left the junior ballfield and drove off, to the disappointment of the crowd. The vans hit a roadblock outside the camp gate, where the advisors broke color war on them. The advisors and the lodge then returned to the field to break color war together.
2005: At dinner one night, Eric Nathan returned from a long hiatus by planting himself in the rafters of the mess hall before the meal and somewhere in the middle came out screaming and throwing orange and black colored ping pong balls while the advisors broke color war.
2006: The Lodge was raising the flag when Tom Hoffman gave them the Andro 100 years orange and black flag to raise. Music played over the loudspeaker instead of the bugle and the advisors ran out and broke color war.
2007: The tone rangers were singing an original song during Coffee House to the tune of Under the Boardwalk, called Behind the Window. Geoff Ash was behind a prop window, unseen but fully painted. During the song, as the line behind the window was repeated, Ash would lift the window and sing his part wearing K-Crew gear. Finally, during the last chorus, Ash threw the window up. He had shed his K-Crew uniform, revealing some orange and black paint. He then came through the window and the other advisors came rushing into the mess hall.
2008: One night at dinner, Tommy Greenwood was presenting the Takajo Tennis Tourney banner won the year before. The camp was giving a rip-rah-ray for Gary who was hiding under and jumped through a fake salad bar table with half a basketball painted orange and black on his head.
2009: An impromptu rededication ceremony for the Foster Field House was planned on the news of a cancelled Sparetime Social. Lodge '05 (first year counselors) played Lodge '09 in a basketball game. At halftime, as more speeches were being given, Stu Foster's wife came to speak, and reflected that one of Stu's favorite things to do was break color war. At this line, she blew a whistle, signaling the advisors to jump up and break color war.
2010: One dinner, in anticipation of their own fake break, the Lodge began starting mess hall cheers. Several cheers in, they reached “we want the chef.” Originally, the 15’s were planning on two of their own jumping out from the kitchen door; however, much to their surprise, their Lodge counselors had gotten wind of the fake break and had other plans. Unexpected to the lodge and the rest of the camp, instead of lodge members appearing from the kitchen door for a fake a break, advisors jumped out and actually broke color war.
2011: Throughout the summer, counselor Jesse Harlan had been launching some self-righteous rants aimed at campers and their misbehaviors. He had one early in the year about not saluting the flag. Another about some missing dodge balls. At Evening Assembly, baseball counselor Peter Liebman was talking. Jesse started yelling at him as he’d been prone to do all summer. Then age group leader Heather pulled Jesse aside and tried to calm him down. He was still audibly complaining and she walked him to the other side of the program office. Assembly continued as normal. A few minutes later, Jesse’s voice was heard. “No. They need to hear what I have to say.” Having taken off his shirt to reveal his orange and black paint, he came sprinting around the program office yelling “Color War.” One advisor popped out of the program office. Four more came up from the beach. Five were just planted around the Assembly Area.
2012: Due to an unusually packed schedule around visiting day, rumors were swirling around camp in speculation of when color war would break. Between The Lodge causing commotions in the Mess Hall, an unusual “we’ve got spirit” chant breaking out at the Parade Grounds, and John Mann blowing an impromptu fire drill at morning free, anticipation was high. Following suit, soon after the fire drill came a particularly raucous lunch. Cheers became more and more chaotic as The Lodge began a game of telephone at the request of Sam Schnur. As planned, The Lodge members eventually passed the game to a counselor who completely “messed up” the typical cheer and called for Jon Mann immediately, disregarding the regular pattern. The boo’s from campers were becoming increasingly audible when suddenly the reason for his “mistake” became clear as Jon Mann and Graham Pratt came running from the kitchen covered in O&B paint as the mess hall erupted and the advisors broke color war.