12/05/2025
Dear Friends of the Targhee Music Camp,
With hearts both full of pride and a touch of sadness, we are writing to you today to share a significant announcement regarding the future of the Targhee Music Camp (TMC).
After careful consideration, the Targhee Music Foundation (TMF) Board and administration have made the difficult decision that our 17th annual camp, held this past August, was its finale. The 2025 Targhee Music Camp will be our last.
For the past 20 years—excluding three years during the COVID era—our camp has been a vibrant, creative space held during the week leading up to the Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival. TMF Executive Director Rob Williams, Camp Director Thomas Sneed, the TMF Board, along with all our colleagues, are immensely proud of what this program has achieved.
This decision was not made lightly. We reflect on the creativity and spirit you have all brought to this space, and our wish is that the music we made in this camp will continue to resonate throughout the musician community and beyond.
We are particularly thankful to professional musician and instructor Ben Winship, who, along with concert promoter Tom Garnsey, helped found the Camp in 2006. The idea was to tap into the A-list Festival performers as instructors, creating a one-of-a-kind experience. Ben led the Camp for five wonderful seasons before turning over the leadership to his friend and fellow musician Thomas Sneed. In 2014, the Camp was formalized when the 501(c)(3) Targhee Music Foundation was established. Since then, the Camp has been our flagship program, operating under the mission: “To educate and inspire people of all ages to actively participate in music through camps, workshops and events.”
We are honored that over the past two decades, many of the finest acoustic and bluegrass musicians of this era have been TMC instructors, including: The Travelin’ McCourys, Rodney Crowell, Sierra Hull, Darrell Scott, Tim O’Brien, the late Jeff Austin, John Reischman, the late Spencer Bohren, Molly Tuttle, Mark O’Conner, Lindsay Lou, the Big Richard Band, Brittany Haas, and our perennial instructor, MC and honorary Camp Poet Laureate Joe Craven, among many others.
As Ben Winship recalls: “When we launched the camp in 2006, I never imagined the rich community of musicians that would return every year and become a joyous village. That feels so rewarding to me.” And as former Board member Rick Johnson summed it up, “It’s been good. Many seeds were planted. Many flowers have grown.”
The Targhee Music Foundation will remain in place for the time being, and our Board members will ultimately be tasked to determine its future.
Thank you once again for your dedication to the Targhee Music Camp and for making it the joyous, musical success story it has been.
Sincerely,
The Targhee Music Foundation Board and Administration
Targhee Music Foundation
