Family, fun abound at Bocce Camp

By Bryan McKenzie

Published: July 13, 2008

Drive beyond the “dog crossing” sign, past the concrete cow and yield to the careening golf cart crammed with laughing children as it crosses the driveway, and you will arrive at Bocce Camp.

“I love Bocce Camp because I get to spend time with my cousins and family,” said Max Cetta, 12, as he steers the cart between the trees and over the ruts of the Bocce Camp backwoods trail. “They’re really fun.”

Weeklong festivities

Family and fun go together at the Cetta residence, where Vito Cetta and his wife, Bevin, host a weeklong family gathering every summer for three children and spouses, eight grandchildren and the extended family’s four dogs. The event started seven years ago as a 40th-anniversary celebration, but it’s taken on a life of its own.

The name came from the couple’s backyard bocce ball court and Vito’s Italian heritage.

“We don’t get to spend much time together as a family,” Vito said, sitting at a table off the front porch as a golf cart of laughing kids rolled by. “The idea is to bring everyone together so they get to know each other. We try to make sure there’s something for them to do and give them some unstructured time together.”

It would be easy to grow apart. Daughter Bevin Boisvert and her husband, David, live in Leesburg with twin girls Allyn and Emily. Daughter Allyn Katelman and her husband, Michael, live in California with daughters Maddie and Delila and son Henry. Son Michael Cetta and his wife, Denise, live in Potomac, Md., with sons Max and Declan and daughter Francesca.

For one week, however, they all call the Cettas’ Owensville house home.

“It gets crowded, but it’s nice,” laughed Bevin.

Copious free time coexists with structured programs. Birdhouses have been built. Trees have been identified and labeled with painted wood markers. Bridges have spanned creeks on hiking trails meandering on the 40-plus-acre property. One of this year’s more educational events featured a tutorial and practical application of sculpture techniques and theory by a local artist.

Previous camps featured family tours of Monticello, the opera at Ash Lawn-Highland and teepee construction. This year’s events included a family float down the James River, and every camp includes swimming, hiking, campfires, s’mores and peach picking at Chile’s Orchard.

Unbelievable

“When we tell people about Bocce Camp, people are floored and can’t believe it,” Denise Cetta said. “What Vito and Bevin have done is take leadership to show what family is, to create a tradition and keep the family together even as they live far apart. Hopefully, it will give the next generation a sense of family.”

That’s a given.

“We plan on coming here when we get older and have our own families,” said Maddie, 13. “We’ve decided we’re going to do this even when [the adults] aren’t around anymore.”