Who we are
Old School Camps is a family-owned business run out of the hamlet of Elphin, Ontario, in the Lanark Highlands. The owners are husband and wife, Joey Wright and Jenny Whiteley, both award-winning Canadian folk and roots musicians. Summer camp is held on their home property, while spring and autumn camps take place at their dear friend, H. Chris Brown’s Hotel Wolfe Island across from Kingston, Ontario.
Jenny had the idea for an Ontario music camp for adults for years. She had observed many of her musician friends travel out west, down south and all over the world to teach at other old time and bluegrass workshops, while at the same time she knew many folks travelling to those distant locals to learn as students and campers.
She thought: “Surely we can save everyone the trouble, and do this right here at home!
When Jenny’s close friend Alysa Hawkins and her family purchased a de-commissioned public school in Prince Edward County with the intention of renovating and living in it, Jenny had found her location for the camp. When Alysa proved to be excited about the idea, the two women co-founded Old School Bluegrass Camp in 2014. “Old” “School”, you see?
Lucky for us, Jenny knows, like a ton of incredible musicians, and she and Joey have been able to draw from that deep well and expand beyond it to find exceptional teachers and instructors for each camp.
After five hugely successful summers, in 2019 Alysa and Jenny agreed that it was time to move the camp from it’s school-gym-centered location. Joey stepped in to partner-up with Jenny in running camp in Elphin. The couple worked intensely to get their own space ready to host camp, building outdoor heated showers, a stage, a couple of platforms around the property and a fancy outhouse with running water, even!
Of course, we all know what happened in 2020…Covid, and no camp. To try and recover form a year’s lost income, Jenny and Joey added two new camps in July on either side of Bluegrass Camp: Old Time, and Fiddle and Banjo. Those camps helped to save the business and ran for two years and four years, until the Old School Camp was able to return to it’s original format in 2024.
Old School Camps were started as a leap of faith and fun between friends and continue to bring that energy to every event they host. The goal is alway inclusion rather than division, welcoming rather that exclusion, and joy where anxiety might try to live.
The world of bluegrass music is changing and Old School wants to introduce ALL the people to it!
Old School Camps 
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