The Piano Wreckers' Ball
Cost
$475*
Where
Maxon Mills
37 Furnace Bank Road
Wassaic, NY 12592
When
June 29 to July 3, 2026
Mon–Thur, 9:30 AM–3:30 PM
+ Fri 9:30 AM–4:30 PM
Who
Rising grades 6–10
Do you like to break stuff? Do you like to figure out how it worked before you broke it? Do you like building things that nobody’s ever imagined before? Do you like music?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then The Piano Wreckers’ Ball is for you! Alongside DJ and musician Tim Love Lee, we will carefully, but with great vigor, demolish old, donated pianos and other hunks of household junk and reassemble them into brand new instruments, or maybe even one giant mobile musical laboratory. After we’ve invented our new instruments, we’ll learn to play them and compose music for the end-of-summer extravaganza on August 15. No previous experience is necessary, but kids should be prepared to wield tools and get dirty!
* Campers will use tools such as drills and hand saws during the course of this camp — always under adult supervision, wearing personal protective equipment, and after receiving safety training. Please consider this when signing up for camp!
· · ·
* We have a no-questions-asked scholarship policy to ensure our education programming is accessible to everyone who wants to participate. If the cost of camp presents a significant financial barrier, please reach out to jill@wassaicproject.org for a partial or full scholarship. If you do so before December 18, we will send you a discount code before registration opens.
We will issue a refund minus 20% for cancellations received two weeks in advance of the camp start date. There will be no refunds of cancellation notices received within two weeks, as it is difficult for us to fill the spots on such close notice, and we operate within a narrow budget. We will waive this policy in the event of an emergency or hardship — please email jill@wassaicproject.org should you need to request this.
About Vagabond Time Killers
Welcome to the town of Whatthewhat, a magical place in a steep valley where fairies build villages in tree roots, apples ripen to the color of indigo, and when you dig a hole in the ground, you never know where it will come out. The moon is always visible in the sky and the water flows uphill (except on Mondays). To enter and leave, you must tell a joke to the bridge troll Inan Doubt, and everyone trades in the blue rocks called slag strewn through the riverbeds. Pantyhose the Billy Goat roams the hills and the horses three, Charlemagne, Antoinette, and Bob, graze happily on the grassy slopes of Rattlesnake Mountain. Here dwell the Vagabond Time Killers, a group of kids expert at killin’ time, the wizard Azorazad who guards the top-secret time machine, and the Unruly Band of Renegade Music Makers, who perform never-before-heard works of music on never-before-seen instruments.
One afternoon, the Vagabond Time Killers were hard at work killing time. They were launching homemade rockets high into the sky, but when they ran out of rocket fuel they decided instead to use chunks of slag. The blast went wrong and caused the entire town of Whatthewhat to shake and quake and the hundreds of slumbering snakes on Rattlesnake Mountain to awaken. The snakes had been asleep for 203 years! They did not appreciate being disturbed. Old Gray Beard, the Keeper of the Rattlesnakes, interpreted the snakes’ hissing and delivered a message to the Vagabonds: they had to find and bring back the tooth of a sabertooth tiger!
Last year, the Vagabond Time Killers were successful in their quest, and retrieved the tooth. The snakes were appeased and settled into fitful slumber for another year. But they are awake again! And demanding another offering, as interpreted by Old Gray Beard, the Keeper of the Rattlesnakes:
They request the left sock lost by their long ago love, Leslie Galapagos. They miss her dearly. Leslie Galapagos was a renowned scientist from Whatthewhat known for her brave explorations and fearless observations. She discovered the rattlesnakes upon a desert island in the year 1693 and under the hot desert sun, the scientist and the rattlesnakes fell in love. During a romantic evening stroll, however, Leslie stepped into some quicksand and lost her shoe and sock. She was able to fish out her shoe, but the sock was lost–seemingly forever. Vagabond Time Killers–you are tasked with traveling through time and space to find Leslie’s sock and bring it back as an offering to the rattlesnakes. Beware, they say! There is quicksand everywhere upon the island. Tread carefully.
Join the Vagabond Time Killers in restoring balance to the town of Whatthewhat! With the help (or sometimes hindrance) of Azorazad the Wizard, Pantyhose the Billy Goat, the troll Inan Doubt, the inventor Eddie, the mad emu Mother, the Unruly Band of Renegade Music Makers, the Keeper of the Rattlesnakes himself, Old Gray Beard, and many more friends, the Vagabond Time Killers will travel into the beyond. Will they succeed in their mission of retrieving the lost left sock of Leslie Galapagos? Only time will tell.
We need you to join on this adventure!
Event Details
The Piano Wreckers' Ball
Cost
$475*
Where
Maxon Mills
37 Furnace Bank Road
Wassaic, NY 12592
When
June 29 to July 3, 2026
Mon–Thur, 9:30 AM–3:30 PM
+ Fri 9:30 AM–4:30 PM
Who
Rising grades 6–10
Do you like to break stuff? Do you like to figure out how it worked before you broke it? Do you like building things that nobody’s ever imagined before? Do you like music?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then The Piano Wreckers’ Ball is for you! Alongside DJ and musician Tim Love Lee, we will carefully, but with great vigor, demolish old, donated pianos and other hunks of household junk and reassemble them into brand new instruments, or maybe even one giant mobile musical laboratory. After we’ve invented our new instruments, we’ll learn to play them and compose music for the end-of-summer extravaganza on August 15. No previous experience is necessary, but kids should be prepared to wield tools and get dirty!
* Campers will use tools such as drills and hand saws during the course of this camp — always under adult supervision, wearing personal protective equipment, and after receiving safety training. Please consider this when signing up for camp!
* We have a no-questions-asked scholarship policy to ensure our education programming is accessible to everyone who wants to participate. If the cost of camp presents a significant financial barrier, please reach out to jill@wassaicproject.org for a partial or full scholarship. If you do so before December 18, we will send you a discount code before registration opens.
We will issue a refund minus 20% for cancellations received two weeks in advance of the camp start date. There will be no refunds of cancellation notices received within two weeks, as it is difficult for us to fill the spots on such close notice, and we operate within a narrow budget. We will waive this policy in the event of an emergency or hardship — please email jill@wassaicproject.org should you need to request this.
About Vagabond Time Killers
Welcome to the town of Whatthewhat, a magical place in a steep valley where fairies build villages in tree roots, apples ripen to the color of indigo, and when you dig a hole in the ground, you never know where it will come out. The moon is always visible in the sky and the water flows uphill (except on Mondays). To enter and leave, you must tell a joke to the bridge troll Inan Doubt, and everyone trades in the blue rocks called slag strewn through the riverbeds. Pantyhose the Billy Goat roams the hills and the horses three, Charlemagne, Antoinette, and Bob, graze happily on the grassy slopes of Rattlesnake Mountain. Here dwell the Vagabond Time Killers, a group of kids expert at killin’ time, the wizard Azorazad who guards the top-secret time machine, and the Unruly Band of Renegade Music Makers, who perform never-before-heard works of music on never-before-seen instruments.
One afternoon, the Vagabond Time Killers were hard at work killing time. They were launching homemade rockets high into the sky, but when they ran out of rocket fuel they decided instead to use chunks of slag. The blast went wrong and caused the entire town of Whatthewhat to shake and quake and the hundreds of slumbering snakes on Rattlesnake Mountain to awaken. The snakes had been asleep for 203 years! They did not appreciate being disturbed. Old Gray Beard, the Keeper of the Rattlesnakes, interpreted the snakes’ hissing and delivered a message to the Vagabonds: they had to find and bring back the tooth of a sabertooth tiger!
Last year, the Vagabond Time Killers were successful in their quest, and retrieved the tooth. The snakes were appeased and settled into fitful slumber for another year. But they are awake again! And demanding another offering, as interpreted by Old Gray Beard, the Keeper of the Rattlesnakes:
They request the left sock lost by their long ago love, Leslie Galapagos. They miss her dearly. Leslie Galapagos was a renowned scientist from Whatthewhat known for her brave explorations and fearless observations. She discovered the rattlesnakes upon a desert island in the year 1693 and under the hot desert sun, the scientist and the rattlesnakes fell in love. During a romantic evening stroll, however, Leslie stepped into some quicksand and lost her shoe and sock. She was able to fish out her shoe, but the sock was lost–seemingly forever. Vagabond Time Killers–you are tasked with traveling through time and space to find Leslie’s sock and bring it back as an offering to the rattlesnakes. Beware, they say! There is quicksand everywhere upon the island. Tread carefully.
Join the Vagabond Time Killers in restoring balance to the town of Whatthewhat! With the help (or sometimes hindrance) of Azorazad the Wizard, Pantyhose the Billy Goat, the troll Inan Doubt, the inventor Eddie, the mad emu Mother, the Unruly Band of Renegade Music Makers, the Keeper of the Rattlesnakes himself, Old Gray Beard, and many more friends, the Vagabond Time Killers will travel into the beyond. Will they succeed in their mission of retrieving the lost left sock of Leslie Galapagos? Only time will tell.
We need you to join on this adventure!
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