At State Beach, the Camp Jabberwocky bus has always held a special status. The big red bus with the Alice in Wonderland characters frolicking on the sides has a reserved spot all summer long so that campers can enjoy easier access to the beach, and passersby get to enjoy the sight of the iconic vehicle. 

Jabberwocky campers have been riding in one red bus or another to take part in summer activities since the 1960s, when the name on the side still read Martha’s Vineyard Cerebral Palsy Camp. 

“It’s really become a beloved symbol on the Island,” said Camp Jabberwocky executive director Hilary Dreyer. “That’s how I felt about it before I even worked for Camp Jabberwocky. You’d see the big red bus and you’d just feel the joy rippling straight off of it.”

This year, the newest edition of the camp’s red bus will soon be making the rounds — a 2020 Bluebird Vision school bus powered by a Ford engine.

Camp Jabberwocky was formed in the 1950s. — Ray Ewing

Ms. Dreyer said the gently-used jitney comes equipped with seatbelts, a hydraulic lift for wheelchairs and an interior configuration allowing multiple wheelchair users to ride together. 

Compared to the last red bus, which lacked a wheelchair lift, the Bluebird is accessible to campers who need to stay in their chairs while traveling, she said. In the past, they have needed to ride in one of the camp’s specialized vans.

“Everyone who wishes to can have the opportunity to join and ride in the bus,” Ms. Dreyer said.

Kyle Gieselman, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, said he hasn’t been able to ride the Camp Jabberwocky bus in years because it lacked a lift.

Mr. Gieselman told the Gazette he is looking forward to singing songs like Drunken Sailor and Take Me Out to the Ball Game with his fellow campers this summer, on their way to State Beach and other Island destinations.

The new bus is called Jack of Hearts, in keeping with the Wonderland theme and in honor of the late Jack Knower, a Camp Jabberwocky volunteer for more than 40 years before his death last October.

Mr. Knower, who was often at the wheel of the red bus on one camp adventure or another, is also remembered on the camp pergola, where his name was recently hand-carved alongside those of other Jabberwocky campers and volunteers who have died. 

John Lamb, son of camp founder Helen Lamb and a lifelong volunteer, will once again do the artwork for the new bus. Mr. Lamb said he came up with the Jabberwocky name as part of an overall Alice in Wonderland theme for the camp. Every cabin is named for one of the made-up words from Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem Jabberwocky (the infirmary is called Galumphing) and Mr. Lamb’s colorful recreations of the original Alice in Wonderland drawings by John Tenniel are almost everywhere on camp grounds.

Alice, the Cheshire Cat and other characters from the book will continue to ride along on the side of the new bus, which over the generations has become a character unto itself. Every Fourth of July, the bus is part of Camp Jabberwocky’s entry in the Edgartown parade, drawing cheers from thousands of spectators along the route. It also serves as an effective advertisement for volunteers, camp director Gabi Cortez told the Gazette.

“So many interviews this year, the first thing I said was, ‘Why do you want to volunteer?’ They [said], ‘Well, I’ve been seeing the bus my whole life.”

The front of the new bus will bear the Camp Jabberwocky seal, designed and painted by Mr. Lamb with his own interpretations of the slithy toves, borogoves and mome raths that caper through Carroll’s absurdist epic. Deep in the scene, Alice is riding the red Jabberwocky bus with the Mad Hatter at the wheel.

A Latin motto, In Wabem Gyrunt Gimpsumque, surrounds the brillig scene; Mr. Lamb translated it for the Gazette as “Gyre and Gimble in the Wabe.”

The iconic red bus is a common sight at State Beach. — Ray Ewing

He also painted Tenniel’s bespectacled lion and dressed-up unicorn — comic symbols for England and Scotland — standing on hind legs and regarding each other skeptically across the central seal.

“A lot of this stuff is just Tenniel being funny,” Mr. Lamb said.

Camp Jabberwocky is still raising money to pay for the bus, which came on the market unexpectedly this spring with everything camp leaders were looking for — including an automatic transmission.

“We had to hop on the opportunity,” Ms. Dreyer said.

All told, including its red paint and Alice in Wonderland-inspired supergraphics, the bus cost about $125,000, she said. 

The camp also faces rising costs for food and insurance, Ms. Dreyer said, and needs to replace a water heater at about $7,000.

Camp Jabberwocky accepts donations through its website, campjabberwocky.org. 

This year’s season starts in early June with family camp, and shifts into high gear at the end of the month when the first summer campers arrive on June 29.