Back in the early 1980's I was doing volunteer work for the Kids Jamboree television show in Baton Rouge, and one Christmas its founder, Sam DiMaria (known as "Uncle Sam") set up a Christmas tree lot on Florida Blvd. near its intersection with Wooddale Blvd. His office was on Wooddale just a couple of blocks north of Florida, so it was a good location for him and also for people looking to buy a Christmas tree and help support a local children's television show and ministry.
He asked me if I would be the "night watchman" for the Christmas tree lot, and I agreed. That meant spending several nights sleeping in a pick up truck camper parked in the middle of the lot, and that didn't seem too challenging, since it was only a little smaller than the apartment I had in Baton Rouge at the time.
Besides, who would want to steal a Christmas tree during the middle of the night on the busiest thoroughfare in Baton Rouge? The answer was no one, especially when it would be taking money away from "Uncle Sam" and Kids Jamboree. So, I slept in the cramped up truck camper overhead bed, had one window cracked open so I could hear anything going on outside. Stealing a Christmas tree would be kind of noisy and would wake me up if it did happen.
But I'm happy to report that it didn't happen, and I spent several restful nights. Each night I would report in as the Christmas tree lot was closing, then I could go to my day job after it opened the following morning. Not very exciting, I know, but it was an interesting week.
DiMaria went on to buy the old YMCA camp in Holden, La., with plans to turn it into a Kids Jamboree summer camp for kids. I visited there several times and was planning to live at the camp, even got a personal mail box at the Holden post office. The camp was named Camp Singing Waters, since it was right on the Tickfaw River. However I never did get to live there, having gotten a new job that required that I be somewhere else.
DiMaria died in 2008, and Camp Singing Waters was purchased by John Schneider (one of the main actors on "The Dukes of Hazzard" television show), and he turned it into a movie studio (John Schneider Studios ) where he produces independent films.
