Visit Hartwick Pines State Park near Grayling on Aug. 4 for a delightful musical introduction to the “CCC boys,” the young men of the Civilian Conservation Corps who built the park’s logging museum some 80 years ago. The hourlong performance by Ironwood-based singer/storyteller Bill Jamerson begins at 6:30 p.m. and is free, although a Recreation Passport is required for park entry.
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a federal works program created by President Franklin Roosevelt in the heart of The Great Depression. From 1933 to 1941, more than 112,000 men between the ages of 17 and 25 served in the CCC in Michigan, planting trees, fighting forest fires and building dams, roads and bridges. They also constructed a dozen state parks and built the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum.
You’ll enjoy Jamerson’s entertaining, honest and fun performance, as he tells stories, reads excerpts from his novel and shows cuts from his films about the CCC. He also plays guitar and sings original songs, ranging from heartwarming ballads to foot-stomping jigs, that take a look at life in the CCC camps and the mischief and the hardships that the boys found out in the woods.
For more information about the program, please call the Hartwick Pines Visitor Center at 989-348-2537.
