Appel Farm 65th Anniversary Celebration
One of the arts treasures of New Jersey, Appel Farm will mark its 65th anniversary with a big weekend celebration slated for November 7 – 9. This event will mark 65 years of fun, learning, service, and community building at their beautiful campus in Elmer, NJ.
The seeds of Appel Farm were planted in 1959, when Albert and Clare Appel—musicians and arts educators—decided to convert their farm property into a day-camp that would blend their love of the arts with community and nature. In the summer of 1960, the first campers arrived, and over time, the program deepened into a residential arts camp. In those early years, rustic facilities—converted chicken coops for bunks, a barn space for art studios—were transformed by the passion of the founders and guest artists into a place of inspiration.
Through the decades, Appel Farm evolved beyond a summer camp. It began offering community arts programming, school outreach, arts retreats, classes, performances, and artist residencies. Its campus also expanded: today it includes a 250-seat theater, a 7,000 sq ft Fine Arts Building, modern bunkhouses, studios for dance, video, photography, outdoor performance stages, and more.
In 1989, the organization inaugurated its signature Appel Farm Arts & Music Festival, intended to draw both local and regional music audiences while nurturing emerging artists, offering children’s programming, and incorporating a crafts fair. Over time, this festival drew crowds of up to 10,000 and became known as a cultural landmark for the region. Although later they decided to concentrate more on their educational partnerships, thousands have very fond memories of these spectacular events.
I interviewed the estimable Heather Yelle, who has worn many hats at the organization. She is currently Director of External Relations.
“We’re celebrating our 65th anniversary over the weekend of November 7th and the 9th, as you know,” said Yelle. “I personally have been here since 1993. I am seeing in real time all the wonderful reconnections, and the 65th is exactly one of those opportunities. Our previous camp alumni are coming in. We’re going to celebrate with a dinner, followed by a Friday night concert that reflects the concerts held every week during our summer camp. The camp counselors and kids who come are going to be able to get up on stage and do performances. They’ll stay overnight, and then Saturday will be a full day of doing visual arts activities throughout the site. It’s an opportunity to really get involved with a lot of people who have been supporters of Apple Farm in the past, and that just gives me a lot of joy.”
“On Saturday, we’re going to have buskers, some of whom are well-known artists in the Philadelphia region. They will be coming down and doing 30-minute sets throughout the site. From two until seven o’clock, there will be main stage acts that will be performing on our Grove stage. Many different styles of music, so there’s something for everyone. They are primarily WXPN musicians from that ‘triple A station’ in Philadelphia. We are having the bands SNACKTIME, Minka, The Tisburys, Stereo League & Polaroid Fade. It’s going to be a great day!”
Heather, what kind of things have you heard from alumni that really resonate with you as to what they got out of the experience or how it affected them or their art or careers?
“A lot of the folks are excited to reconnect with the other alumni and were children themselves when they came here to camp, they’re excited to meet back up with people and find out where people have gone, what they are doing in their lives. And so I’m looking to have that same feeling about Apple Farm and the camp for all the people who have been here.”
“And it’s not just about the camp, but we have a 25-year, very rich history of providing an amazing venue and concert series for singer-songwriter musicians, as well as country music series and folk music. I want to see and hear from the people who attended those events. ‘Hey, I remember seeing Janice Ian. Hey, I remember seeing the Indigo Girls. “I remember, you know, Richie Havens. And I remember the great times that I used to have there.’”
Almost everybody in the Delaware Valley has a great memory of one of those shows! But change was in the air, yes?
“Around 2014, we decided that we wanted to kind of go back to our roots of arts education. We spent the next decade trying to help the Creativity Co-Laboratory Charter School get started. And they are still housed here on our site. It’s a middle school, and we help integrate the arts into their curriculum of science and math. We help them make sure that the arts help children grasp certain concepts, but doing it through the arts opens up a lot of doors for the kids.”
What else is getting your motor running for the big event?
“We’re doing two major projects that people must see. We’re doing 65 canvases by 65 artists. We’ve asked 65 different artists to create eight-by-eight canvases for us. And those canvases will be displayed in the dining hall. We deliberately set them at $65 apiece as a fundraiser. We’ve had a lot of our teaching artists, a lot of our camp alumni, contribute a canvas. A lot of artists in the community, Gallery 50 in Bridgeton, our host committee members, Wesley Bogan, Ronnie Cimprich, and Maria Payer, have asked friends to help with a painting. That’s been super fun to see all the different kinds of artwork that have come in for that. And then the second thing is, we are putting together an amazing historical retrospective of Appel Farm in one of our buildings. You’ll see how the buildings and grounds have changed, and how our festival morphed over the last 25 years with displays of T-shirts and program books and things like that.”
Appel Farm's 65th anniversary invites both celebration and renewal. It underscores the importance of sustaining spaces that nurture creativity, of bridging educational institutions and community arts, and of preserving a legacy of arts for all. This milestone is more than a birthday: it is also an opportunity to reflect on the longevity and impact of a regional arts organization in a rural setting. Over its lifespan, Appel Farm has served tens of thousands of children, families, artists, and audiences, often focusing on accessibility and equity in the arts. As it charges into its seventh decade, Appel Farm continues to embody the spirit of artistry, collaboration, and growth that Albert and Clare Appel envisioned.
