Reform, Orthodox campers to join for Fourth of July celebration

JTA — Orthodox and Reform Jewish campers will hold a joint Fourth of July celebration.

The Americafest celebration next week, which will bring campers from the Orthodox Camp Darom in Grenada, Mississippi, to the Union for Reform Judaism’s Henry S. Jacobs Camp in Utica, Mississippi, was made possible by a grant from the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

The celebration will mark the first time the two camps have come together for an intercamp program day, and will include a Fourth of July parade featuring campers from both camps, an afternoon carnival, an outdoor concert by Jewish musician Dan Nichols and fireworks.

“While the two camps practice their Judaism differently, their missions are very much the same: to strengthen the Jewish identity of young people from small and isolated Southern Jewish communities by providing them with outstanding programs and powerful Jewish memories,” Jonathan “J.C.” Cohen, the Jacobs camp director, said in a statement. “Jacobs Camp’s motto, ‘A Jewish Place at a Southern Pace,’ will surely ring true during this one-of-a-kind celebration.”