Welcome to Jacques's Page!

This many people have come to visit Jacques:

Who is Jacques? Is he a dean? Is he a camper? Is he the new maintenance guy? Is he the one whose idea it was to paint Diorite cabin yucky poop brown? No! Jacques is a balloon! Or was, I should say. He looked something like this:

This is his story.

We first met Jacques back in '95. He was an Elementary III Wigwam creation of a counselor named Jessika. She took this red balloon, blew it up, and painted a face on it. We named him Jacques, and boy did he have a personality! Everybody loved him, including my three campers and co-counselor.

Well...everybody but Fire Marshall Bill, that is. He popped loveable old Jacques! Well, you can imagine what a tragedy this was! Our best balloon buddy was gone :( But Jessika just made a new balloon named Jacquette, Widow of Jacques. All was well once more.

Until...

Bill struck again! First, a word about Fire Marshall Bill. He was a cool guy...fun...nice...we all liked everything about him, except for his Jacques-killing nature. But he hasn't been heard of since that summer. It's been nearly a decade and nobody knows what has become of Fire Marshall Bill. Just last weekend, Jodi and I were reminiscing about Jacques and wondering what Bill was up to.

This is Fire Marshall Bill (on the right) who killed Jacques. He hasn't been seen or heard from since the incident. He is The Wigwam's Most Wanted Craft Killer. A reward of free canteen is offered for any info on FMB's whereabouts.

Anyway, back to the story, FMB popped Jacquette, Widow of Jacques! Another balloon buddy bites the dust. By this time, it was the last day of camp. Jess, Jeremy, and I were in the Wigwam late that night when we got the idea to have Jacques haunt Bill. Jess made yet another balloon friend, this time a white ghoul. On the back of it she wrote something like, "I am the ghost of Jacques come to haunt you!" Then Jeremy went to Bill's cabin when he was out at Grace Hall (back when it really was Grace Hall) and taped the ghost of Jacques to Bill's bed.

This is Jeremy who taped the ghost of Jacques to Bill's bunk. Mariann has nothing to do with Jacques, but if she would have known him she would have been his friend I'm sure.

The next day, Bill came up to our table which consisted of the main Jacques fan club - me, my co-counselor Jeremy, and our campers who had taken to Jacques, mainly Jodi and Kim. He dropped a popped ghost of Jacques on the table. "Recognize someone?" the balloon killer sneered.

These are the campers who made up the Jacques Fan Club of '95.

Jacques lives on in the memory of all the Really Awesome, Barnicle Incrusted, Iron-Clad Michigamme Muscrats (our day group name, give or take an adjective...hey it was 8 years ago). Last summer (2000) at senior high camp, Jodi and I reincarnated Jacques out of another red balloon. We named him the NeoJacques and stuck him in the hole in the wall in the back of the craft cabin and wrote his whole story next to the place where we helped him sign his name in 1995. Jacques was doing pretty well (except for the fact that he kept getting smaller and smaller as the week went on) until the last day of camp when we brought him to chapel. Unfortunately, he got wet and his face smeared and partly wiped off completely. Then, with all the emotion of Carrie Lou's Saturday morning chapel sex talk and good-bye, we forgot poor Jacques in the back of the first pew on the left side. If you find him please return him to Jen or Jodi.

We were in the group in charge of the decorations for the dance, and Jodi made a sign about Jacques for the wall. It even had his email address on it. Yes, Jacques has his own email address. Jodi and I helped him set it up, and you can email him here at jacques_the_balloon@hotmail.com.

This is Kelly and Bear. Kel was one of Jacques's buddies, and Bear thought Jacques was stupid. A lot of viewers will probably agree with him. It's kind of one of those 'you had to be there' things.

Late breaking news in the Jacques story!!!!! Jodi's good friend's name is Jacques in French class. Amazing!

At senior high camp, Jodi and I started making up a song about Jacques to the tune of Bye Bye Miss American Pie. As soon as we finish it, we'll post the words up here so you can sing along. Right now about all we have is Bye Bye Jacques the Balloon and a line about seeing him soon and Bill popping him that I can't remember right now.

The Rest of the Story...
This summer (2002), more in the story of Jacques has happened. At the Senior High dance, we found a huge red balloon that looked like a giant Jacques. Jodi drew on him with marker, and we named him Fat Jacques. Unfortunately for Fat Jacques, some of the campers started kicking the balloons around, and he ended up getting a slow leak. Jodi and I sat by John at the fire and told him all about Jacques as we timed how long it took for Fat Jacques to loose his air. (It was between 5 and 6 minutes). Then we cremated him in the fire. The saga goes on!

You can sign Jacques's guestbook too!

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Jacques's Photo Archive

Jacques's family's church photo when he was a kid

Jacuqes on his first job

Jacques's friends