On April 6, Arts Project of Cherry Grove (APCG) President Michael Coffindaffer and the APCG Board of Directors released the organization’s summer 2011 schedule, replete with gala parties, musicales, and other artistic community events. This season’s theme is Summer Camp, which translates equally as camping out—or away—and camping it up, and a number of items on the agenda reflect that theme.

The “Trading Post” flea market, on May 21, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and 22, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Community House, is the first event on the APCG calendar, coinciding with Leather Weekend in the Grove, and there is a VIP Member Reception for subscribers on May 28, from 6 to 8 p.m. But many people consider the APCG Membership Party and Homecoming Queen Contest as the official start of the season and this year’s event takes place on the eve of Memorial Day, May 29 at 8 p.m. It’s free to members or with the purchase of a membership at $40. Weekly yoga sessions, on Saturday mornings from 9 to 10 a.m., begin on May 28 and continue through the end of August.

In June, plan on attending the Arts Project House Party: Trailer Trash Tea from 4 to 7 p.m. on the 11th; Tuesday Movie Nights at 6:30 p.m. begin on the 14th and, with the exception of July 5, continue through August 30; cabaret performers Melissa Kolczynski, singer and actress, and Tom Wilson Weinberg, singer and composer (“Sixty Years with Bruhs and Gean,” “Ten Percent Review,” “Sunrise at Hyde Park”), who have been performing in Philadelphia and New Hope and at Rainbow Mountain, offer their “Cabaret Crime” on the 18th at 8:30 p.m.—it’s also the weekend of boardwalk painting in the Grove, putting white lines at the edges of the boards in an effort to keep folks from falling off into the brush on dark nights; and during Pride Weekend, Isaac Steven Vaughan produces his 13th annual Ocean Aires, billed this year as “A Classical Recital Molto Misterioso,” on the 25th at 8:30 p.m. It’s the eve of the LGBT Pride March in the city and the day of the Cherry Grove Pride Parade, both of which begin at noon.

In July, to kick off Independence Day weekend, Matt Baney presents the fourth annual edition of his Legends show, celebrating Grove Homecoming Queens, on the 2nd at 8 and 10 p.m., and Legends IV is called “Camp C.A.M.P.;” the Grove Invasion of the Pines is on the 4th; Tuesday morning yoga begins at 9 a.m. on the 5th and continues through August 30; the Cherry Grove Community Association, Inc. (CGCAI) officially launches its “Save the Community House” campaign, and APCG is hosting an Arts Project House Party billed as the Title IX Tea from 4 to 7 p.m. on the 9th; Sunday night Bingo begins at 7 p.m. on the 10th and its theme is Forever Plaid—play Class Recess, Trash Bag Fashion, I Love Lucy, Get Laid, Law and Order Cherry Grove, People’s Choice and Comedy Night Bingo on successive Sundays through August 28; Donald Labohn’s 15th annual Doctor’s Fund benefit show, with the title “Hubba Hubba Hubba, the 1940s,” takes place at 8 and 10 p.m. on the 16th; and the “Camp Activities” Art Show is on July 23rd and 24th, with a members reception from noon to 2 p.m. on the first day, followed by general admission from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m., and with hours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday and raffle drawing at 2 p.m.

APCG Casino in conjunction with the Pines Party was so successful last year, the first time this joint effort with the Fire Island Pines Property Owners Association (FIPPOA) was tried, that not only will the Grove Casino at Whyte Hall in the Pines be repeated on Pines Party night—July 30 from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.—but there will also once again be an APCG Casino in the Grove, the weekend after Labor Day, on September 10—also the day of the Miss Fire Island Pageant—from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Shows by a couple of fantastic women performers begin APCG’s August schedule—peerless blonde belter Sharon McNight, familiar from cabaret shows, AIDS benefits, and guest appearances with gay choruses from San Francisco to Manhattan to Provincetown, comes to the Grove at last, with “The First 30 Years: From the Moose Hall to Carnegie Hall (& All the Gin Joints in Between)” on the 6th at 8:30 p.m.—that afternoon, attend the Concerned Women of the Grove (CWOG) Breast Cancer Benefit; and performance artist Demyse (as she’s billed now, formerly known as Robbynne) Kaamil, at once entertaining and political, offers “Raw & Real: Life from One Woman’s Perspective” on the 13th at 7:30 and 10 p.m. On the 27th, start the afternoon at the Community House at the Shapiro Sisters’ Tea, from 4 to 7 p.m., and stay on for French pianist and teacher Jean-Pierre Lemarié’s “A Romantic Piano Night,” at 8:30 p.m.

On tap for Labor Day Weekend are Laura Spadafino’s show “GLAA,” a take-off on “Glee,” on September 3 at 7:30 and 10 p.m., and Homecoming Queen 2010 Beach DeBree’s Tie-Dye Tea on 4th from 4 to 7 p.m. The season concludes with the APCG’s annual gala Ball, on the 24th from 8 p.m. to 1 p.m.

VIP subscriptions for five APCG events—“Cabaret Crime,” Legends IV, Demyse Kaamil and Jean-Pierre Lemarié’s performances, and the Grove Casino—for $100 are available to members from www.artsprojectcherrygrove.org, and donors can also sponsor season pennants, with their names on them, which will be displayed at the Community House, for $100.