Upper Valley
Connection presents the Icicle Players, a Theater Camp that brings together
people with and without developmental disabilities to experience the
satisfaction and joy of putting on a play for their community.
Goals of Theater Camp:
We have two
specific goals for our Theater Camp. One is to provide a theater experience for
young people who have developmental disabilities, and the other is to provide
camp opportunities for this population. Neither of these exist anywhere on the
eastern side of Washington State, and we've only been able to identify two
similar camps anywhere in the entire United States.
General Camp Info:
The Icicle Players will meet the last full week of June each
year, beginning with an orientation meeting on Sunday, and ending with two
performances, one on Friday night and one Saturday afternoon. We will do "Peter Pan" in 2013. Camp tuition is $250.00. Some camp
scholarships are available - please ask about those if you're interested. Admission
to both performances is by donation. All proceeds go to help support Upper
Valley Connection.
Sports
Upper Valley Connection started with sports programs,
specifically baseball in 2001.We
now have four regular sports seasons, and another one or two occasional ones
throughout the year.
The Icicle Trackers, our x-country ski team, actually
start warming up before the snow even flies, with 2 dryland practices on
Leavenworth’s Ski Hill in October and November. Then in January the training
starts in earnest.The team meets
once/week for 8 weeks out at the Icicle River Trail in Leavenworth, their sights
set on winning medals at the Washington State Special Olympics Winter Games,
held the first weekend in March.
The Upper Valley Hoops hit the court for some basketball
starting in March and playing for 6 weeks.They usually manage to get in at least one game with the
varsity boys and girls teams from Cascade High School.
Then the Upper Valley Sluggers—the team that started it
all—pick up their bats and start hitting the home runs in May.Baseball also is a six-week season.
In the fall it’s time for some indoor soccer.The Upper Valley Force descends on the
Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex for eight weeks in October and November.
This summer we did three weeks of bowling in Cashmere--great as it was really hot and we were indoors!
All our coaches and helpers for these activities are
volunteers and we have the best coaches in the Valley!They are all experts in their
particular sport and all have huge hearts.They comment every year on the improvement our athletes
make, both in individual skills and in working together as a team.It’s hard to say who benefits most from
this relationship, the athletes or the coaches.
Whitney West Fishing Day
This is a once/year event that was started 5 years ago as
her Senior Project by a young lady named Whitney West at Cascade High
School. She worked with the
Leavenworth chapter of Trout Unlimited to put on an amazing day for Upper
Valley Connection anglers and their families at a local fishing resort owned by
her parents. All the fishermen
were given poles and tackle boxes stuffed with fishing tackle, which they put
to good use out on the dock. The
fish were jumping like crazy that
day. I don’t think anyone went
home with fewer than a dozen fish (all cleaned and filleted for them by the
Trout Unlimited folks)! They put
on a fabulous lunch, had awards and prizes for everyone, and even a
commemorative t-shirt for the day.
When asked if we could make this an annual event (without
all the prizes, etc.), the Wests graciously agreed, and have hosted us for the
past four years. The fish weren’t
quite as cooperative these past four years as they were the first one, so the
Wests loaded everyone up onto several of their big pontoon boats and took us
out on the lake, where we eventually located those reluctant fish. This year, the local Knights of Columbus put on a fabulous BBQ lunch for our group. This is a day in the summer that everyone
talks about and looks forward to all year.
Other Activities
In addition to our sports seasons and Theater Camp, Upper
Valley Connection offers a variety of one-time events throughout the year. These include a Christmas dance in
December, a one-day Theater Skills Workshop, a Hoedown in the fall, which includes a hayride, BBQ and dance, and
a sleigh ride in January. We
occasionally get together for a spring BBQ or a fall harvest party, as
well.
