Ferrwood Music Camp welcomes new music director
- Matt Straub
- Jul 17
- 3 min read
Sounds of distant horns and percussion rolling over the picturesque summertime farmlands of Butler Twp. can only mean one thing — Ferrwood Music Camp is back in session.
What has long been a local tradition and institution, Ferrwood was originally built as a camp to protect children pre-disposed to Tuberculosis in the 1920s and was named the Luzerne County Fresh Air Camp.
Father Joseph Ferrera, a priest who was assigned to the Hazleton area, discovered the property in the 1960s while looking for an outdoor setting for his philharmonic chorus and orchestra students.
It was then that the property was cleared and re-purposed as Ferrwood Music Camp.
Today, the camp hosts dozens of young musicians and artists honing their skills over the course of the two-week summer camp with each week culminating with a free public concert at the camp’s bandshell.
Students ranging from just finishing fourth grade to finishing their senior year of high school are eligible for either one or both weeks of the camp. Many also have the option of sleeping their for the week and making it a true summer camp experience.
Although Ferrwood has remained a constant since its founding, this year there was something new — a new music director, Caleb “Bo” Bohanan.
A Pittsburgh resident and York native, Bohanan, a trombonist, taught low brass at the camp for many years before becoming music director.
After graduating from Penn State with a degree in music education, Bohanan got his master’s degree from the University of Florida and has been teaching middle school kids instrumental music in Pittsburgh.
Given his full-time teaching job in Pittsburgh, Bohanan categorizes his work at Ferrwood as his “bread and butter.”
Despite the fact that Bohanan is not a local, his parents lived in Mountain Top for a time. That led him to connect with a local music teacher he was observing for school which in turn led him to Ferrwood.
After last year’s music director stepped down, Bohanan’s name was put forward as a replacement and was approved by the board.
Many of the camp’s music instructors come from all across the country, boasting teachers from Oregon, Indiana and Massachusetts.
“Half of our current instructors were former campers and have pursued music professionally,” Bohanan said. “It really does seem to have an effect on kids that makes them want to stick with music for a lifetime.”
The camp includes several types ensembles, a jazz band, a choir, a concert band, a symphonic band and a wind ensemble.
“We do usually have a percussion ensemble perform at the talent show. Last week we had a guitar ensemble perform as well, that’s a bit of a new thing we are incorporating so we’ll see if we bring that back this week as well, but all of our guitar students will either be involved in something like that or be playing in the jazz band to give everyone performance experience on their instrument,” Bohanan said.
The camp also has a collection of art students that paint and sketch throughout the week, and then, if they wish, put their artwork up for sale to the public at the end of the week during the art show that is held at the time of the music performances.
“We feel so drawn to this place because kids learn a lot, have fun and are truly able to be themselves. I think in the arts you get kids who sometimes feel like they can’t be themselves in school and this is a place where no kid feels that way. They’re all respected and accepted for who they are and encouraged to be who they are and that’s a really special thing for kids,” mused Bohanan.
“When they connect with that through the arts with each other it just really breeds a special environment where people support each other and want to make each other better.”
Source: Gregory Adams / Staff Writer
Photo Credit: John Haeger / Staff Photographer
Standard-Speaker Newspaper, Hazleton PA