[clapping & singing] ♪♪ They call it that good old mountain dew, mountain dew!

And them that refuse it are few, are few!

I'll go around the bend and I'll come back again for that good old mountain dew, woo-hoo!

They call it that good old mountain dew, mountain dew!

And them that refuse it are few, are few!

I'll go round the bend and I'll come back again for that good old mountain dew, woo-hoo!

♪♪ [sandpaper scraping] ♪♪ [indistinct chatter] [softly] -It’s free-- ♪♪ ♪♪ [indistinct speaking] ♪♪ -Hello my name is Bischak.

I'm from the Górale region in Poland.

I've been traveling the world for a number of years.

Interested in Peep medical care.

I started playing village when I was 13 years old in 1983, and I remember it just being such a thrill.

After life and school, where your time was so regimented, so structured, you know, you will spend 45 minutes on English and then 45 minutes on math, and then you'll have 45 minutes to eat and play.

And then there will be-- you know, all that.

To be-- To get to village and just sort of be told, you know, build a village.

♪♪ -A Peep is a being that you create out of pipe cleaners and yarn, and then you make clothes for them as well.

and clay, for a head.

They are typically about three inches tall, which is six, Peep feet and you need a Peep to play the game of village.

So you and your Peep build a house, participate in the government and build a community.

Work jobs for the business.

Anything you want to do.

[indistinct chatter] -When they create their little person, that person can be whatever each child decides that person is going to be.

It can be an extension of themselves.

It can be, somebody that they wish they could be.

It can be somebody that they admire.

-So you want a piece of clothes, I’ll kinda ask for them and I’ll make them.

-Because its, kinda tilted-- -Hi!

Yeah!

-I’m a river guide and I'm wondering if you could make me a wet suit.

-Yeah but that’s kinda-- He's got boxers on under here, but, these pants don’t come off that easily.

And he’s got the shoes on.

And my hair.

But since my hair is so curly, I had trouble putting it on.

-Hello, I'm Henry.

I'm a Peep rights lawyer.

I work for the Republic of Peeps and I've been helping to build Peep villages oh, for decades now.

[birds chirping] Henry was a lawyer when I made him.

And he practices law.

And at the time, I think that's one of the things I imagined myself potentially doing.

And, it didn’t-- that didn't happen.

Probably for the better.

I became a professor, and an educator instead.

But-- So I kind of practiced law through Henry, you know, across my career.

Kids make Peeps that are, you know, an ideal person.

But they also sometimes use Peeps to explore, like, alternative, possibilities.

You know?

Someone from a different culture or a different race or different religion.

You know?

We once had a Peep who was a Buddhist monk, and built a house, sort of in the rushes next to a pond.

No one saw what he was doing, and, and one day, other children were nearby, and they discovered Alex's Peep had built this beautiful Buddhist temple, in the in the rushes next to the pond.

It was just a very calm, collected, conflicted person.

[overlapping chatter] -I asked-- -It's, it’s a way to travel fast.

[indistinct response] [overlapping chatter] -I'm a pirate from basically a different universe, but roughly the same idea I was from the 1600s, which was actually surprisingly- Fun fact about me is that that's when piracy was actually mainly, consistent because there were less, hurricanes.

And I've really been learning a lot of stuff about myself and other people and how to treat them, which, I find really fun.

-Okay-- -A kangaroo kicked off my arm and that's why I’m-- I-- moved here because, I don't like kangaroos a lot.

Because one kicked off my arm.

-Is that a pet skunk?

-Yes I have a pet skunk.

-Do we have to worry about him spraying?

-Jerry is ready-- -Only if he-- Only if she doesn't like you.

♪♪ -It doesn't need to be filled up all the way.

I know a lot about gardening so, trust me-- -Do you garden at your house?

[bag crinkling] -Yes.

[bag crinkling] Those look to me-- They look like, nuts.

♪♪ Two more.

♪♪ -In general, it's just everybody gets to kind of do what they want during village.

You can make your house, you can make a, stand.

You can make a business.

You can work at the radio or the bank or the Peep store.

-I want to either work in the Peep store, or I want to make my own business in sales marketing, or Peep statues.

-There we go.

♪♪ -Ten, gold.

-Over here is some foam, corks and then empty box.

We don't know what that's for.

And then this wood.

Wood carving and cutting and stuff-- -Hey Stella, do you want Friday off?

Or do you want to work Friday?

-I’m good working Friday.

I don’t care.

-Okay.

♪♪ Alright then you can be second.

I make sure everyone stays in check.

I fire people if they need to be fired.

I helped decide many of these prices.

I had a lot of fun putting these together like this, to make chandeliers.

So it was really fun.

We had a lot more of these.

Which are glass, but they work really, really, really well, for a colorful walkway.

♪♪ -So this year I'm working at the radio.

I am a co-manager with Everett.

And, basically we take requests.

We have a box down there, where you can put a slip of paper with the name of a song.

And we play songs people like we can play playlists, and you can do segments and interview on the radio.

Like the weather or interviewing a new Peep who has just come to town, something like that.

♪♪ [indistinct chatter] -My Peep, he's a bank manager this year.

The town and the Peep store has a bank account that-- And that all has to be run by my employees and me.

[page turning] [indistinct chatter] -Over the years I think I’ve built close to 40 Peep towns, starting with towns in New Hampshire, but also building towns on the Lower East side of Manhattan, in Poland, at summer camps in Poland and Slovakia, a few in Serbia, and in Madison, Wisconsin.

-Do you want to play golf, but it’s smaller than small mini golf?

-We try to have the children in charge of as much as they can be in charge of.

There are some ground rules which are things like no hurting people or Peeps.

And everyone has to clean up at the end of the day.

And, you know, obviously you-- And you have to use tools safely, things like that.

But then the particular decisions about how you spend your time and what you want to invest your energy in is very much a matter of kids choice.

You have kids who will decide to spend all of the time working on a building.

Someone else will spend all of their time writing for the newspaper, or you can spend all of your time goofing off in the woods and playing with frogs.

-Oh the leeches-- ♪♪ [indiscernible] -Peep island.

♪♪ -Yeah, he's been missing for I think three days now.

-I grew up in this area.

-Yeah?

♪♪ -One year I was quite the entrepreneur.

And I never would have thought of myself as an entrepreneur.

But I had so much fun realizing what I could create that everybody else wanted to buy from me.

And that became a pretty large focus for me that summer.

Next summer, I didn't actually spend as much time focused on that one thing.

But what I discover-- What I realized was that, I actually could be really great at this particular thing of, of, of creating and then selling a product.

And I never would have explored it if I hadn't just accidentally fallen into that.

I needed to make money so that I could pay for my house thinking about ideas, and that's what I came up with.

And it was empowering for me to realize, oh, if I, you know, I can follow my ideas, They’re not always going to work out.

I definitely had some things that didn't work out.

-Bigger ones are 7 Peep dollars.

Mediums, also known as classics, are 5 or 6 and the tiny ones are like 3 or 4.

-One of the things that Cia Iselin, who was, the, the godmother and, you know, creator of Village used to emphasize and was so important to her was that all kids can find some talent they have that's useful to the whole group.

You know, someone might be a great builder.

You know, someone might be a great, you know, statesperson, moderator of meetings, or a great journalist, you know?

But everyone's got something to contribute to the collective project.

So the game of village starts with my grandmother.

As a very young child, she used to play with her cousins.

They created little tiny spaces, and they had little people.

And as she got older, she ended up having a couple of other experiences that sort of synchronize together to create a program that would make it so that kids could play in miniature, but experience what we all do in the real world.

So, they all got to participate as bankers or radio radio DJs, and write in the newsletter... all while being little tiny people.

One of the philosophies of it is that the children are leading the experience.

For so much of her childhood, she didn't feel like she could say what was going on.

She didn't have a voice, and so she wanted to give that to any other child.

And it turns out that kids are incredibly wise.

And so we do need to listen to them.

But my grandmother was not your milk and cookies kind of grandmother.

My grandmother was the kind of grandmother who takes you on a ride to fight against nuclear power, to inform a whole community of people about what solar power is.

And so she was always pushing past boundaries.

From a hill, a chalet and barn overlook forest and pond.

It is here that children from across the region gather together to create something uniquely their own a children's nation.

The game of village is many things.

To an adult, it is a successful educational experiment.

To a child, it is more, for each child stands in the midst of the world he or she has created.

Welcome to you.

Welcome to the new community.

What I hope is that you're going to get your houses online by the end of this week.

If you do, it'll be glorious.

It was a little bit taller, so I just had to close up.

[continued chatter] First things first, kids will just draw a sketch of what they want their house to be.

So, what it looks like from the front, maybe a floor plan or two.

And this is the time where they can just create anything they want.

If they want it to be a pentagon or hexagon or any fun shape, a tree house or, like, by a river or something, like we have a house on stilts.

When they draw out the rough sketches of their houses is the time that they can be the most creative, and we really push them to be creative and to make really cool designs, like houses made completely out of plexiglass, or on stilts, or in trees, or like anything the kids want to do.

So, this this is the ground, right?

And then the stairs are resting in the ground, same as this middle section.

So, kids really have an opportunity to say, Well, I think I want my people to live in a tree.

So then they can live in a tree.

It's going to be complicated because we have to figure out how their house is going to be in the tree and how we’re going to actually have support systems in place and how they’re going to get to their house.

But it really gives them a chance to have dreams and pull them into a place of actually being able to work with it.

They make a cardboard model.

So, they cut all their wall pieces out of cardboard and they attach it together just to see what their house would look like.

♪ ♪ [conversation] Then they fill out a lumber order.

So, that's where the math part of Village comes in.

So they need to find the area of each of their walls so we can calculate the price.

With the older kids, we teach them Pythagorean theorem so they can calculate the triangles of their roofs.

No, dude!

24.

And then that’s 80, so that’s... No, dude.

Stop.

♪ I also love that kids get to know, like, power tools, or how to saw, or how to make correct measurements.

It’s not only having fun, but it's learning in a fun way.

Science and math there's a lot of math in making your lumber order, so figuring out the wood shapes that you need.

So right now, I am making a little walk-in room for my house.

So, where you might put your shoes and hang your coat, that kind of thing.

Remember, don't make the cardboard too too detailed.

I have a very intricate house, so I've been having fun.

It's like it seems hard when you start it, but there's a lot of steps, and if you just, like, slowly go through each step, it slowly looks more and more possible.

So it's been fun getting to see that come together right now.

My plan for my house is to build a mushroom house.

So, initially, there's a hexagon as the bottom part, and there are six different panels going upward, and there's going to be a hole on the top, and the roofs in all of the peep houses are removable, so then you can design and make the things.

Everybody's had a chance to explore this land.

And everybody has had a chance to think about where they might want their house to be and pick out their tree, their rock, their lettuce farm whatever it is that they want.

So we'll ring a bell and everyone will walk to the spot that they want.

After that's been more or less worked out, we'll ring the bell again, and then everybody can start staking down their string.

And the strings have all been measured out; they're all exactly the same length.

They're 40 ft long.

So everybody gets a 40-ft perimeter, which of course means that, depending how you stake it, you could have a slightly different amounts of area, but you get the same perimeter.

♪ ♪ [bell ringing] But I already put my string down... So did I. But I got more out.

Why do you like this spot?

Because it's cute, nice.

And if anything falls over, my peep-house is safe.

And it has trees.

And so it's just cute.

And it's near this area and this area... because I wanted to live in the forest, but I really like this sunny area but I don't love the sun, so... I'm building a haunted house.

And so, all the berries fell off.

And so now they're haunted they're haunted apple trees.

Because this used to be the owner of a an apple guy, and he was super rich and wanted to marry this lady.

And when the lady showed him her real face, he didn't want to marry her anymore.

And so she cursed his apple orchard.

The lady was a witch.

Yeah, the lady was a witch.

And so now his apple trees never grow apples.

Guinea hens are a large threat to all peeps.

Last year, an eye was pecked out by a guinea hen my peep’s.

He had to have instant surgery to replace it.

This year, there is an entire house dedicated to clearing out guinea hens and chipmunks from the area with crossbows, I think.

Tiny crossbows.

No, it's coming for it.

Hi!

That peep’s been through enough with wild animals.

[chatter] You know, maybe some day I’ll do it, but today’s not the day.

Is there anything Jerry could do to make amends with your skunk?

I think that the town meetings were really surprising and, like, really awesome to me.

Seeing these kids, like, come up with these ideas and work in a democracy together and solve problems for the town all on their own without the input of adults, was really, really cool to see.

I couldn't believe I was blown away by their imaginations and the way they solved problems Both amendments the one that passed and the one that has not been voted on yet we don’t know how it’s going to be decided who the working crew is.

Correct.

So, if the law passed, we wouldn't Well, we could then have a separate law about who's going to be in the work group.

Yeah.

Okay.

But I think it would make it a lot simpler if we, you know, made an amendment that was like, The work crew will be decided by a sign-up sheet.

Okay.

Do you want to propose that as an amendment?

Yeah.

Is that friendly, Max?

Okay.

Yes.

That's friendly.

And then, another small thing I feel like having it divided up and, like, letting each person have their own little section, I feel like that this overcomplicates it a bit compared to having just the basic idea of 500 allotted split between all people who sign up.

I feel like that just keeps it simple, and the people who are actually doing the work can work that out themselves.

I feel like Jack's idea was really good because, you know, if people, like, get paid for doing more, some people might just lie about doing a lot more.

Depending on the people, we would have a set budget to spend on hiring people.

Yep.

You've talked to a bunch of people about how exciting it is at Village to learn how to make things, and to really learn the craftsmanship and to actually make real things, right?

I mean, to learn how to weave, to learn how to use a hammer, to learn how to use a power saw, things like that.

I think it's really important also to understand Village to understand that kids learn how to really solve problems together, as a community.

And that's what happens in the town meetings.

I motion that we have a historical that we have like a library... Two people would be working on, like, the architecture, and two more people would be working on the interior design.

When people live together, problems arise.

And at Village, there are certain problems that come up over and over again.

Someone figures out how to make a chair, somebody else copies the chair, the first person who made the chair says That was my idea.

You took it.

Or somebody steps on something or breaks something by accident, right?

And so you start having people complaining that he did this, she did that, that's not fair, what are we going to do about it?

And kids will come to adults and say, Fix this problem.

What we do at Village is different because we say, Well, no.

You're going to fix this problem.

We're all going to fix this problem together.

Very much at the town meetings are the kids about fixing problems trespassing, vandalism, counterfeit money, all sorts of things.

It's not going to take much time to clear out that small area.

Okay.

So there’s a motion on the floor that we pay workers five gold per minute.

We never did the math, and if eight people work for an hour each, they earn 2,400 gold all together.

And when that’s half That’s over our budget.

That’s half the town money.

Okay.

Motion in front of you is pay work crew five gold per minute each to clear out town centers.

So all in favor, raise your hand.

One.

Two.

Three yes.

Any opposed, raise your hand.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Thirteen no.

Any abstentions means you don't want to vote.

Zero abstentions.

Okay, so the motion fails.

I think it's actually really good for people to be learning, Okay.

This is how we can make laws.

This is what an amendment is.

And, in general, the whole thing is so fun because sometimes a law is like really funny.

Could you domesticate snails?

In other words, if a snail wandered onto your property, could you make a fence around it and consider it you know, a domestic pet?

And so this went to town meeting as a great issue of debate.

And all sorts of sides of the questions were considered.

What if a snail came onto your land?

You know, Could you move it?

Right?

Or was that infringing on its right as a wild animal?

There was a village recently that made a law that if you stole something, you had to pay the person you stole it from half the value of what you stole.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Eleven.

Twelve.

Thirteen.

There was a corrupt Nigerian ex-dictator in the town, and he sold the town surveying crew some donuts, which they ate, that cost the town all of the town's money.

So it wiped out the town's money and the town couldn't get it back because they’d eaten the donuts.

So what are you going to do?

So then it took them a while to figure out what had actually happened.

They had to, like, go back into the town records and look at the books, but then they had to figure out, like, how they were going to recover their money.

You could have a private lettuce farm or you could have public lettuce Farm.

What's a public one going to do?

A public one would be owned by the So, it would be owned by the town, but you could be growing lettuce on it.

But the town would have to agree that it was going to be a lettuce farm.

But I want to make it private so I own it, but I want to stil sell it.

Okay, so you could do that.

In that case, you'd have to have it on your private land.

It's the collective decision-making, the collective sharing of problems, sharing of perspectives on a problem, and having the authority to decide how to fix it, and then to carry out that fix that I think is crucial to what Village can do.

So then we also have a community college course on surveying.

You agree that by the middle of next week you'll provide a map.

You’ll survey your land and you'll give a map of the United States of Peeps.

So it's a two-part process.

The first part is taking the measurements.

And that's what we'll be doing today using compasses and rulers, taking the measurements of your of your plot.

We're going to measure from that point over to this point.

From that point over to there.

We’ve labeled each point, so... Starting like this, is A. And A is 36 degrees to B. B to C is 342 degrees.

So, we've gotten off to a pretty good start.

♪ ♪ I can help you.

♪ [sawing] ♪ [woodworking sounds] ♪ [chatter] [chatter] Then they work on furniture, interior design, also sorts of things.

They sew beds, shelves, tables, kitchenry, all that sort of stuff comes afterwards.

And then, they can also add more stuff.

So if they want to add plumbing.

When my dad was a kid, he had plumbing in his house.

Electricity is big.

We use, like, little LED lights and battery packs that go on roofs easily.

So... Yeah, basically, the more you add to your house, the higher it'll be in price.

They're both getting 1.5 volts.

How is that possible?

I don't know.

People find suff out.

Because they're going in here and then they split up here and then they connect back here, I guess.

Right.

But last time when we split it, they took half the voltage and they were dimmer.

Wait.

Where does that black wire go?

♪ [power sawing] It went under my hand.

Oh, this worked the other day.

♪ Nice!

♪ [sawing] ♪ [chatter] Sit on the floor?

Sorry, [inaudible].

I have a very big order in which he ordered a bed, a couch, which apparently isn't put together yet.

Now I'm working on his second chair.

He really enjoys chairs.

So, these women came and visited Harrisville and taught, and they’re fifth-generation weavers, which means their mother, their grandmother, their great grandmother, their great great grandmother, and their great great great grandmother all were weavers, and they're weavers now.

And so they teach weaving.

They also work with museums and they try to help, like, look at old rugs.

I’m saying it could be a skunk bed or it could be a dog bed or it could be a wall hanging or it could be Let's see.

What else did they say?

It could be a blanket.

And these are a little looms that are made in Harrisville that they donated to us.

But... it's great to be able to work with the kids because this is the kind of thing where, as you as you keep going, they quickly catch on and it gets to be really rhythmic.

And it's the kind of thing that you can start doing for your peep at Village, but then you can keep doing it.

It’s time to take them off.

♪ ♪ [chatter] It's like an office / historical society / library.

Yeah, so... but I've had a lot of help from them over here and from them for doing all the interior stuff.

So, basically, tomorrow is appraisal, and today is the last day they have to finish their houses.

So... we have lots of people, like, working on furniture, It’s like the last minute to put furniture in their houses and and paint them.

We still have some people assembling their houses, like him over there with the boat, but he’s doing great.

Different people work at different pieces.

Different people have different priorities.

Sometimes, somebody chooses to make a really complex house.

So we have some Village campers who have decided to make something really complicated.

And some of them are not done yet.

Some people just had other things they were interested in, so they're a little bit further behind.

But that's part of the reason we do this progress chart to see who needs some extra help and who we need to support to help them get done stuff on time.

I mean, we're going to finish it all up with cock in the very end, but... I think I'm probably going to be able to finish it.

It's just going to be kind of last-minute and rickety.

[chatter] One of the first weeks, one of the kids had, like, kind of rushed ahead and nailed his house together already.

And I wasn't really sure how to nail a house together, and I was trying to teach another kid how to do it.

And this one stepped up and he helped me, and he held things together for me, and he helped explain things to the other kid.

And it was really so cool to watch him, like, step up and be helpful and take on a teaching role as a peer, which I think is something that doesn't happen enough in classrooms.

And it happens a lot at Village.

And I think that it's so wonderful to see them share that and get to help each other and get to learn from each other [chatter] You got mugs for sale?

Yeah.

Mugs for sale!

[voicing their peep] Yeah, I might get it.

I'm still thinking though, because I have a lot of pets so far.

Over here is my limited edition hammock / trampoline.

It has a BOING to its step!

I cannot frown... because my face is made of clay.

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do... Backflip.

Buh-do.

So, I originally come from Nottinghamshire in England.

But in the 1600s, I came over to the New World.

I orchestrated what you now refer to as the Salem Witch Trials.

And, uh, yes, it was realized that my views were somewhat out of date, so I've been attending a wellness center in the Catskills where I learn the ways of the world in 2023.

This is actually my first house ever that's opened up by hinges in my four years.

So, the bottom one is Drip King’s and the top one is Bob’s.

It's not very well-furnished, but I was not really good at making furniture, so... They are doing a whole lot of work exploring who they think they are themselves and how it is to be that person that they are within a community of other people.

And I think that what's really special about this game is that it's organic and it can move with the times.

And so, you know... maybe, for example, right now, we're really having an exciting experience of looking into what gender is.

And for the children to be able to explore the world in the eyes of that little person, there's enough of a separation that they can safely ask the questions and explore without it coming back to potentially hurt themselves.

If you're a child who really struggles to read or write, for example.

And there’s this layer of safety; it can be a peep who’s struggling, not so much you.

So you can say, My peep doesn’t know how to write or, you know, My peep is struggling with this.

Can you help me?

And it gives you that layer of, you know, It's okay to ask for help.

I bought the chairs and table from Everett.

I bought those two from Nova.

I got the plants from Lucas for free because they don't look very good!

People are almost working out psychological issues, life issues for their peeps.

I mean, some of the most poignant peeps are the ones created by kids who are experiencing real sort of family stress or family separation or divorce.

We once had a peep that had been in a surfing accident and cut in half, which just tore at your heartstrings, right?

And... I'd like to think that playing with that peep and kind of creating a life where he’d come back together as in some kind of whole was useful to him.

See, these are my reading glasses.

I'm getting old.

You know, I'm 36.

And my seeing’s fine, you know, but when I'm reading, it's a little tricky.

So, I read a lot, so I got some reading glasses.

After lunch, there'll also be a chance for people to write real estate descriptions.

And it's basically a real estate pitch.

So if your house is small, you could say, This cozy building with an open floor plan... That means, like, if you don't have a lot of furniture, you can say that, or you can say well-furnished.

Whatever it is, just find a way to spin your house in the best light you can figure out.

And there have been tons of times before where a good blurb has significantly brought up an appraisal.

Yeah.

[reading description] Situated off the main premises, this property contains a grassy knoll toward the edge of town that's perfect for camping under the stars or just enjoying an afternoon picnic.

He's got this beautiful little table.

Table, bed... She's got a dog and two puppies in here, and then four snakes on the bed.

Her windows have glass and they have frames.

So then once you've decided how much everything is worth, you want to add it up.

[reading description] Located in a gorgeous fern forest close to the grassy field, this house is perfectly situated to read a book in a secret spot, chill in a teepee, or survive torrential rain.

There are so many beautiful frogs.

Look at the frogs.

That... path leads from the edge of the land to the front entrance, providing an easy walk in.

This is a nice house.

There's even a little pet bed.

Wallpaper as well.

Fully wallpaper.

Little pet bed.

That's for her baby.

Okay, for the baby.

Nevermind!

But there’s a dog in there, but okay.

It's a crib.

It's a crib for the dog and the baby.

So, this is my house.

So, you got lighting inside.

You got a rug and another rug, and this rug is used as a bed.

And then you got his dog, and then downstairs, below... you have a table.

There’s lighting inside and a bed and a sofa.

It's on a zip line; it has no windows in case someone’s afraid of heights.

And, it's on top of this rock.

[voicing peep] Hello, everybody!

I'm John.

I'm a commissioner here at Village, and we are so excited because it is... the Mini Fair!

Da-na-na!

If you take a look around, you can see we've got a Ferris wheel.

We've got the Wheel of Terror.

We've got Zero Gravity, a gorgeous lettuce farm, and many more exciting attractions.

All right, this is the theater building.

It's really cool.

Let me go around to the other side.

And then you raise it up, and we’ve got a little interior scene of the peep store.

And that’s Spring Rock.

And that’s... We have more scenes that can exist.

One.

Two.

Initially, with this, there are cups and they're attached to string.

And then we have these two round parts, and we spin this.

It's very manual.

It was inspired by a ski lift and a gondola.

So we're doing the money exchange at the Mini Fair.

So, one U.S.

dollar gets you five gold.

A the local bake sale, we got some cheesy bread muffins from Everett; peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from yours truly; lemon squares that I also made.

Yours truly again.

What people are doing is they're making insta-peeps, which are basically little peeps made out of clothespins with a pipe cleaner arm.

And, basically, insta-peeps are what visitors make during Mini Fair.

Don’t miss out on the Ferris wheel!

All right.

Get your fresh lettuce!

It's nice and green!

And the plants!

Oh, it’s all just so darling, I love it!

Thank you so much.

Beautiful.

Beautiful snake.

Thank you so much.

[chuckling] I have to finish this one.

But after this is finished, I can do that.

I can do your peep.

Oh, I went on some wonderful rides.

So much fun.

And, I'm so glad I don't have hair, because if I did, it would be such a mess.

[laughing] The purpose of the Mini Fair is not only just to have fun, but to fundraise for future efforts to make camp more accessible for people who are wanting to join us.

And it also funds our auction, which is a wonderful way to end the season for our campers.

The first item in the auction is some soft, grey, female clay.

Do you want to talk about its attributes?

This soft, grey, female clay can be used to make things like grey wolves... I love that, in the very end, we get appraisals and they'll give it number of gold.

And then, that money plus all of the money that you've earned throughout Village, minus the money that you've spent, is all put in your bank account.

And then, on the last day Friday we have the auction.

We all got to bid on real-life toys.

So, like, balsa wood airplanes is what me and Max would always get.

Or there are sometimes Lego sets.

Or last year there were magic cards.

Playing often remember that if you're the winner of this will help children speak more clearly, develop a larger vocabulary.

You didn’t know that.

This is true.

And strengthen social and emotional skills.

You should bring this home and play it for your parents!

The musical instrument that strengthens social and emotional skills, above all else, is the kazoo!

And your parents will love it!

So let's start the opening bid at 50.

Okay, 50 gold from Lockhart.

60.

70.

80.

I just really like these.

90 to Lockhart.

Going once.

Going twice.

Sold to Lockhart for 90.

Yes!

[cheering] And my house actually has some lace on the bottom.

It was put on by tape because I had like one minute before we were doing appraisals.

And we have my peep, and my bed, my couch.

Ooh.

Snake.

Mushroom.

Yeah.

And, today, we're cleaning it all up.

I'm going to be sad to leave Village, but I'm glad that I'm coming back next year.

They're able to, like, see each other's value and see that they each have things that they are really good at that they might not have found in other ways.

And they get to, yeah, really explore themselves and find out what they're good at, but also see what their peers are good at in an out-of-the-classrooom situation, which I think gives them a new perspective on each other.

And I really love to see that.

It's going to give them skills for their whole life.

And, being a counselor, it's given me skills I didn't have that will stay with me for my whole life, and I think that that's such a unique experience.

And I'm I'm really happy for them, and I'm happy for myself.

I think it's just been such an amazing experience and it's really I wish every kid in the world could do it.

It's been, really, such a cool thing.

♪♪ -I would say my favorite part of village is just being able to like, meet new people and kind of like have your own thing that like, it's kind of hard to have when you're a kid.

-That initial question of, you know, how much of our living together, you know, should be kind of our private individual striving and, you know, how much do we need to build collectively?

I think is something, you know, it's wonderful that kids get to explore that in village, but it's also something we as adults and the societies we live in, need to engage with.

And whether it's in a town in-- in a ward of a city.

Right?

There's so many ways that, on a school board, alright, making decisions, on a neighborhood, you know, community group right?

There's so many ways that people can come together, and, you know, frame out the world they want to live in.

-Part of the joy of village is that we are building something together.

We are creating a democracy, or we are making decisions, we are solving problems, and it is fun.

It gives me so much hope for the future to see these kids making these decisions their own, making this community their own, taking the authority themselves to get involved, to solve problems, to fix things, to live together in ways that work.

And when I say ways that work, I don't mean that they all go smoothly right from the get go.

I mean, they don't.

But then they fix them and they get along and they learn about each other and they learn to live together.

And it just makes me think that we can do this in and out there.

There is all that.

♪♪ [singing in unison] [clapping] [cheering] [singing in unison] ♪♪ -Down by the bay ♪♪ ♪♪ Where the watermelons grow ♪♪ ♪♪ Back to my home ♪♪ ♪♪ I dare not go ♪♪ ♪♪ For if I do ♪♪ ♪♪ My mother will say ♪♪ -Have you ever seen a Noah taming a boa?

♪♪ -Down by the bay.

Down by the bay ♪♪ ♪♪ Where the watermelons grow ♪♪ ♪♪ Back to my home ♪♪ ♪♪ I dare not go ♪♪ ♪♪ For if I do ♪♪ ♪♪ My mother will say ♪♪ -Have you ever had a time where you couldn't make a rhyme?

[yelling in unison] -No!

♪♪ -Down by the bay--