The Big River Chautauqua is back again for another year of entertainment and education and will be held July 18-20, 2013 in Bonne Terre, Missouri. This event is the longest running privately funded Chautauqua west of the Mississippi.
Betty Schaper serves on the committee that brings the Big River Chautauqua to life every year. She says that it all started nineteen years ago when the Missouri Humanities Council was touring Missouri with a package of Chautauqua speakers. The group was looking for communities that would put up the tent and schedule other local activities to coincide with the Chautauqua speaker and the theme for the year. Community leaders in Bonne Terre were interested in participating and the rest, as they say, is history.
A committee of volunteers works every year to put the event together and each person is responsible for a certain area -- whether it be publicity, scheduling local musicians or handling sound. Schaper says that the group works well together and each person knows their job and gets it done. She said, "After nineteen years, everybody's still excited about Chautauqua. It's a well-oiled machine as far the committee working."
This year's theme is "Missourians Who Have Shaped History." Participants will hear from Mark Twain on Thursday, July 18, George Washington Carver on Friday, July 19 and finally Harry Truman on Saturday, July 20. Audience members will have a chance to ask questions of the historical characters after their presentation and they can also ask questions of the scholars portraying these famous Missourians.
Each evening of the Big River Chautauqua, food is available by various local groups at 5:30 p.m. Local artists perform at 6:30 p.m. and the Chautauqua scholar for the evening takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. There is no charge to hear the local musicians or the Chautauqua scholar. There is a charge for the food.
Big River Chautauqua will be held under the big white tent behind City Hall in Bonne Terre, Missouri.
