Blue Skies Adult Music Camp
July 27th – 30th, 2025
presented by
Location
The Blue Skies site, in Clarendon, Ontario. (For directions and a map, view the Directions/Map page)
Dates
This year, camp runs Sunday July 27, 2025 (evening) – Wednesday July 30, 2025 (noon).
Cost – $200.00
Registration
Registration will be available in the Spring
Contact us
If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail dparkhill123@gmail.com
Program / Schedule
Blue Skies in the Community presents an immersive, educational, music experience.
We offer three ‘streams’ of workshops, each limited to about 20 participants and about 50 in total.
‘Singing around the Campfire’
‘Singing around the Campfire’ with Magoo is ideal for beginners. Bring a guitar, mandolin, ukulele and we’ll learn some songs, know when to change chords, play with others and gain the confidence to lead a song. For a description of this stream please view the Campfire page…
‘Singing Together!’
‘Singing Together!’ with Evemarie Brunelle No experience necessary, whether you are familiar to singing, you just love singing or you are new to singing. To see if this is for you and to find out more about Evemarie, check the Singing Together! page…
‘Cajun and Country’
‘Cajun and Country’ with Ball and Chain is a new this year! Mike Ball (fiddle) and Jody Benjamin will take you on a tour of Cajun and Country music. Suitable for intermediate to advanced players. Songs, rhythm, chords, melody, dancing and singin’. What’s not to like?. For more details have a look at the Cajun and Country page…
Look up these amazing presenters online.
Camp takes place at the Blue Skies Festival site. Participants may camp on site or commute.
How Does it All Work?
When we say ‘Camp’ we mean it, because we’ll be camping outdoors at the beautiful rural Blue Skies site! We are going to have a lot of fun singing, playing, learning, and making friends for a few days, outdoors in midsummer just before the Blue Skies Music Festival. Our philosophy is to do all this while keeping things simple and affordable, so here’s how it works:
Shelter
We are going to leave it to you to bring your own tent, sleeping bag, and camping gear. The site has plenty of open, sunny spaces, and woodsy, shady spots to pitch your tent. For a list of recommended camping stuff to bring, see Things to Bring below. We have a number of covered spaces for instruction and socializing that will be dry and shady. While we are camping, we will be guests of Blue Skies, and there is some camping etiquette that we would like you to respect to keep our hosts happy. For a list of camping do’s and don’t’s, see Camping at Blue Skies below. If you live close by, of course you can day-trip, or if you don’t like camping, there are various motels and B+B’s in the Sharbot Lake area.
Food
Please bring your own food! This keeps things simple for us and affordable for you, and you get to eat what you like! Pack a cooler, or pack a lunch if you are day-tripping. We will have a couple of communal firepits available that you can use for cooking.
Services we provide, or not
This is an outdoor, camping event some distance from town, so things are pretty rustic. Of course you’ll get a fantastic musical experience, but we cannot offer much in the way of services.
We will not have potable water onsite except that which we bring in to offer coffee and snacks so bring your own. There are stores in nearby Sharbot Lake where you can get more if you need it. Bathrooms are limited to outhouses. As these are also used for the Blue Skies Music Festival, we will be limiting our use of outhouses to those specifically designated for us.
- We’ll provide firewood for the communal firepits.
- Ice, groceries, and other services are available in Sharbot Lake, which is about ten minutes away by car. Ice will NOT be available on site during the Music Camp and the kitchen will not be open.
- Cell service is spotty. There is no landline nearby, nor is there any Internet except what you might get from your cell provider. Be prepared to feel isolated from the rest of the world.
- We have a ‘zero garbage’ policy. If you pack it in, please pack it out. (This includes recyclables)
- This event will run rain or shine! We will have sheltered areas for instruction.
Things to Bring
Here is a list of items we recommend bringing to maximize your experience:
- Tent
- Sleeping bag or bedding
- Air mattress, Thermarest, or camp cot
- Food and beverages
- Dishes, cookware, and cutlery
- Campstove or small BBQ (or you can cook at a communal firepit)
- Flashlight or battery lantern
- Warm clothing and an extra sweater (it can get quite cool at night)
- Rain gear, just in case
- Bug spray, just in case
- Biodegradable soap for cleanup
- Sunblock
- Water bottle
- Coffee mug
- Personal medications
- Earplugs, if you are a light sleeper
- Tarp, and rope or bungee cords, for shade and rain protection at your campsite
- Folding chair(s). Please bring an armless straight back chair for lesson time (and maybe a slouchy chair for your campsite)
- Music stand. (This isn’t necessary if you are in the vocal stream.)
Camping Etiquette at Blue Skies
If you have ever been to the Blue Skies Music Festival, you’ve probably noticed that the camping areas can get pretty crowded. At this camp, with a fraction of the people, we’ll have plenty of space, but we still want to follow all the traditional guidelines and etiquette, to keep ourselves and our hosts happy. For more information on camping see the Camping page…
We will be guests of the Blue Skies Music Festival, and they have graciously allowed us to use their site just a few days before the festival. They are squeezing us in between days of festival preparations, so it is really important that we don’t show up early or stay late. Please don’t arrive before 4 PM on Sunday or stay later than 2 PM on Wednesday.
Many campers may also be attending the Blue Skies Music Festival beginning on Friday. Even if you have camping passes for the festival, you may not leave your campsite set up in the interim, unless you are also a festival organizer and have duties that require you to be onsite early.
We encourage campers to bring tents, but we have limited space available for camper vans and small trailers (under 18’ length). We cannot accommodate larger RV’s.
Parking
There is plenty of parking nearby. We have an ‘inner parking lot’ that is quite small, but convenient for loading and unloading. After you have unloaded your vehicle, please move it to the larger parking lot opposite the main gate. If you are worried about valuables, please lock them in your vehicle.
Special Needs (Accessibility)
If you have any special needs or accessibility issues, please talk to us in advance. If you have mobility issues, you may find the terrain challenging.
For more information see the Accessibility page…
Contact us
If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail dparkhill123@gmail.com
