Camp Featherburn

Come camp with us! 3 bands, food and drink, fire, music jams, kayaking, biking & more!

1028 River Road, Columbia, PA, 17512

2023 Schedule:

Friday, 9/15

• Noon. Campground opens. Cars, RVs, trailers welcome.

• All Day. Kayaking & bike trails at Chickies Rock County Park. Rentals available through our hosts @Chiquesrockoutfitters.net

• 8pm-? Fire, open music jam. BYOE.

Saturday, 9/16

• 8am. Breakfast Bowls & ala carte.

• Kayaking & bike trails at Chickies Rock County Park

• 6pm. Gates. Wrist bands for alcohol 21+, keg cups available, food & drink ala carte.

• 7pm. New World Otters

• 8pm The Buzzers

• 9pm Featherburn

• 10pm-? Fire, open music jam.

Sunday 9/17

• 8am. Breakfast Bowls & ala carte

• Kayaking & bike trails at Chickies Rock County Park

Monday 9/18

• 11am. Handshakes & hugs, digital connecting, pack up & clean up.

• Noon. Safe travels!

Info & Pricing

Camping Friday $10, Camping Saturday $5, Camping Sunday $10.

Show Tickets through 9/14 $15

Show Tickets 9/15 and after $20

Saturday keg cups (21+) $5

Food and drink for sale. Figuring it out. Pork sandwiches, pizzas, morning breakfast bowls, beer & soft drinks. More info to come.

Camping is rustic. Lots of space for tents, tentsite parking, rvs and trailers. Potable water available. PortaJohns. That’s pretty much it.

Pets invited, but please keep them leashed.

Chickies Rock County Park has got miles of bike trails and water for boating. Here’s a link: Chickies-Rock-County-Park

Kayak, Canoe, Stand Up Paddle Boards & Bicycle rentals and tours available through our awesome hosts https://www.chiquesrockoutfitters.net/

The Story of Camp Featherburn

In the fall of 2018 Featherburn recorded its first EP, One Precious Life.  Days after we scheduled the digital release and booked ourselves an intimate venue to invite our friends and families to celebrate the music at, our drummer Tim let the band know that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and would soon be undergoing intensive, long-term treatment.  Our tremendous friend died in August the next year and, although the CD was cut and One Precious Life streams today, the release party never happened. Tim’s courage through the last year of his life was humbling and inspiring.  On visits, we would talk about a musical future - about the songs we would record and the shows we would play when he was healthy again.  When I asked him what we would call our next album, he paused for a second and replied simply, “I don’t know, Camp?”

That was the inception, but the idea stuck with us for years.  Camp grew into a collection of songs and stories that a later configuration of Featherburn recorded some material for in 2020, but the band wasn’t able to bring it to fruition before the great global shutdown.  The pandemic taught us, among other things we may not have fully processed yet, patience, perseverance, and appreciation. This past winter, we teamed up with Lancaster-local theater company Three Sheets, led by award-winning theater deviser and Franklin & Marshall professor, Rachel Anderson-Rabern to present Camp: An Immersive Love Story Between Earth and Sky at Zoetropolis Cinema and Stillhouse. I turned out to be a match rivaling the power of s’mores.

At its core was a deep sense of play.  We monkeyed around with all things associated with camp and camping.  “Camp”, in the whatever-that-means-to-you sense of the word. Exploring and distilling in the rehearsal room, venturing far out into our memories and experiences, our associations and projections.  We found ways to tell our stories and yours, our collective adventures with endings both happy and sad (but mostly happy), our associations and projections, our myths, misfortunes, transformations and translations; all packed into a live, interactive, musical, theatrical performance. On Feburary 10th and 11th 2023, our audience entered as "campers" to swim in a night of music, storytelling and play.  They grabbed their maps and embarked upon a great scavenger hunt.  We gathered together around the fire and joined in song to guitar and drums.  We shared our memories, stomped on the ground and howled at the moon.  Campers and performers alike played roles in the love story between Earth and Sky.  It was part concert, part theater, part summer camp – woven into a quest of the heart.   

The music and the stories were written and prepared for the show but since then, the band has been in the studio recording a 12 song album (entitled Camp) which we’re about to celebrate with YOU. Come, warm yourself by the fire at Camp Featherburn on Saturday 9/16 and the adjoining weekend.