Cleaning up along Lake Aloaloa’s shoreline with docks and calm water in the background.
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Come On and Join Our Fun: Nakanawa Service Weekend 2025

Wood-burning medals and name tags, sitting around a table inside a rustic camp cabin.
A volunteer holding a flowerpot filled with vibrant blooms on the camp’s welcoming porch.
Ties Service Weekend
register here

Every summer at Camp Nakanawa is filled with memories that last a lifetime, and you can help set the stage for this year’s campers during our 2025 Service Weekend. From May 16–18, we invite you to join us for a weekend of camaraderie, light work, and meaningful contributions that will ensure camp is ready for the summer ahead.

What We Do

During Service Weekend, participants take part in a variety of tasks, including:

  • Creating Amazon and Valkyrie ties that will be cherished by campers during team events.
  • Planting flowerpots to welcome visitors and brighten campgrounds.
  • Wood-burning medals and counselor name tags, adding a handcrafted touch to camp traditions.
  • Other light tasks to keep Camp Nakanawa as beautiful and welcoming as ever.

Whether you’re a seasoned camper or joining us for the first time, Service Weekend is a chance to give back and reconnect with the “Spirit of Nakanawa.”

It’s Not All Work!

There’s plenty of time to enjoy the camp’s natural beauty. Take a peaceful walk along Lake Aloaloa, unwind in your favorite quiet spot, or reminisce with friends about summers past. The balance of work and play makes this weekend a truly rewarding experience.

How to Join

Registration for Service Weekend 2025 is open! Be sure to mark May 16–18, 2025 on your calendar, and plan to join us for a weekend filled with purpose and fun. Together, we can ensure that this summer’s campers enjoy the unforgettable magic of Camp Nakanawa.

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A Season of Nakanawa Magic: Slideshow Season

🎶 “Oh, the campfires are calling, calling to me…” 🎶

Our Nakanawa slideshow season was unprecedented! We are so encouraged by how many new campers will be joining us this summer and want to extend a heartfelt thank-you to our incredible slideshow hostesses and city representatives who made this possible. Your dedication to sharing the Spirit of Nakanawa has been nothing short of inspiring.

Special thanks to our amazing city representatives:
Kate Miller Short (Birmingham, AL), Catherine McPhilips Inge (Mobile, AL), Courtney Black (Little Rock, AR), Anne Peden Robertson Watts (Atlanta, GA), Vica Bourque (Decatur, GA), Katy Mallory (Decatur, GA), Neill Myers Caudill (Bowling Green, KY), Brittany Rampick Setton (New Orleans, LA), Anne Summerour (New Orleans, LA), Margaret McPhillips (Jackson, MS), Emily Richardson Blake (Oklahoma City, OK), Samantha Lunn (Chattanooga, TN), Blair Mayfield Rissing (Franklin, TN), Simonne Brown Wortham (Knoxville, TN), Katie Johnson (Nashville, TN), Ashley Thomas Smith (Nashville, TN), Marly Moate Page (Austin, TX), Julia Broadbent (Dallas, TX), Ashley Stewart Wilson (Dallas, TX), Megan Thompson Lovoi (Houston, TX), Allison Hayne (San Antonio, TX), Carol Kennedy McCormack (Alexandria, VA), Laura Layman Lazarevich (Northern Virginia, VA), Mary Baker Baker (Norfolk, VA), Rankin Sims Livingston (Columbia, SC), and Martha Layman McKechnie (Harrisonburg, VA).

Your efforts to host, support, and share the magic of Camp Nakanawa have helped us reach new campers and their families, ensuring the legacy of Nakanawa continues for generations to come.

🎶 “Happy are we at Nakanawa!” 🎶

As we reflect on this season of joy and connection, we are filled with gratitude for everyone who participated in making this slideshow season such a success.

Interested in hosting a future slideshow in your hometown?
Email Blair at blairrissing@gmail.com to learn more about bringing the Nakanawa magic to your community!

🌲✨ #CampNakanawa #HappyAreWe #NakanawaForever #SlideshowSuccess

Mary Miles Loveless and her daughter Kate holding candles at the Camp Nakanawa Amazon Serenade in 2011, sharing a special moment illuminated by candlelight.
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Alumnae Spotlight: Mary Miles Loveless | Camp Nakanawa Tent Row ’71

Mary Miles Loveless in Old Cabin 2 in 1971

Meet Mary Miles Loveless, Tent Row ’71 Alumna

On every level, Mary Miles Loveless is a generous and impactful communicator. She makes connections with her “great big Nakanawa smile,” her contagious laugh and her memorable stories. Mary’s narrative ability connected with readers, too, in her professional life as a journalist for both Ducks Unlimited and Memphis Magazine.

From Fifth Grader to Lifelong Friendships

As a fifth grader on the Memphis bus to Camp Nakanawa in 1965, Mary was surrounded by girls from home but found herself in a cabin far away from familiar faces. We know how this story turns out – with many new, lifelong friends. One of Camp’s gifts, she says, is the opportunity for small but significant successes such as expanding friendships, passing milestones in canoeing and overcoming a touch of homesickness.

Canoeing Milestones: A Family Tradition

Those canoeing milestones were no small matter. Mary and her daughters proved to be proficient with paddles as both campers and counselors. The Lovelesses have their own green, wooden Old Town canoe which survived the voyage to Omena, Michigan, atop foam pool noodles on the roof of an old Suburban. One chilly, windy Michigan afternoon on the lake, the Coast Guard patrol boat followed Mary canoeing in a headwind before a storm. “I see that J-stroke!” the officer called. He too had learned the J-stroke at summer camp.

Keeping the Fire Alive: Legendary TR ‘71 Reunions

The Loveless lake home serves as a connection, too, as headquarters for camp reunions. “TR ‘71 reunions,” Mary says, “are legend.” A close, dedicated Tent Row, 1971 has weathered storms together, supported Nakanawa and kept the fire embers warm with their legacy nieces, daughters and granddaughters. We look forward to welcoming Mary Miles Loveless and daughters Lucy, Kate and Mary to our fine boathouse in 2025 – 60 years after that first bus ride to Nakanawa!