By Cathleen Norman
Sally Green will again lead the Nature Walk at the 2010 Return of the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua, Aug. 6-8. Photos courtesy of Cathleen Norman
Palmer Lake is proud to present the 2010 Return of the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua in the historic town, nestled on the Palmer Divide, 20 miles north of Colorado Springs and 4 miles west of Monument. The original Chautauqua came to Palmer Lake in 1886 and was an annual summer event for more than two decades. The town had the distinct honor of hosting the very first Chautauqua in the Rocky Mountain West.
The Chautauqua Movement flourished in the U.S. from 1874 into the 1920s. The purpose of the Chautauqua was to provide entertainment, inspiration, athletic activities and education to enrich people’s lives. The Chautauqua was the first mass educational and cultural movement in the nation’s history. Educators, speakers, artists and musicians brought programs to ordinary people in the rural areas, which were attended by an estimated 45 million Americans.
At its peak, more than 400 locations around the country held an annual summer Chautauqua Assembly. For example, Texas schoolteachers developed the Boulder Chautauqua in the 1890s with several auditoriums and dozens of cottages still standing today.
Suffragettes picket at the Vintage Baseball Game during the 2009 festival.
The Rocky Mountain Chautauqua made Palmer Lake a summer destination point for many. People arrived from Colorado Springs, Denver, elsewhere in Colorado and from Midwestern states via the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.
The Chautauqua was held in Palmer Lake’s Glen Park, where an auditorium was built for lectures, musical performances and church services. Chautauqua activities included lectures and debates, concerts, campfire gatherings and burro excursions up to the reservoirs on North Monument Creek.
Many homes in Palmer Lake’s Glen neighborhood began as rustic tent cottages, where Chautauqua goers stayed for this six-week-long learning festival. A number of Chautauqua cottages eventually evolved into permanent homes where some descendants still live today.
Due to changing times, the Chautauqua eventually faded away by 1910. The Palmer Lake Historical Society revived the summer tradition in August 2008, and it continues as an annual event.
Crowd lines up for the ice cream social at Town hall for the 2009 Chautauqua.
“The 2010 Return of the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua Assembly” takes you back more than 100 years in time to experience the types of activities and events similar to the original Chautauqua gatherings that took place in Palmer Lake.
This year Palmer Lake’s Chautauqua event unfolds Aug. 6-8. The Palmer Lake Historical Society and an army of community volunteers recreate the various events and activities. This historical journey includes history tramps led by Cathleen Norman and Jim Sawatzki, a nature walk by Sally Green, portrayals of Isabella Bird, Nikola Tesla and other historic figures, an ice cream social at Palmer Lake’s village green, a vintage baseball game beside the lake, traditional children’s games on the village green, an old-fashioned square dance at Pinecrest and an old-time service at the Pinecrest church. A potato bake at Town Hall commemorates the Potato Festivals once held during the Palmer Divide’s prolific potato harvests. Demonstrations of skills from everyday living in the late 1800s include ranching featuring mini-donkeys, alpacas, cow milking and bee keeping demonstrations, and much more.
Both adults and children will enjoy the encampment of late 1800s Second Colorado Infantry Re-enactors, a Native American Teaching Lodge, a concert by “Zen Cowboy” Chuck Pyle, patriotic songs, band music and vintage bicycle demonstrations. The Tri-Lakes Art Center hosts a Saturday night dinner theatre featuring “Murder at Palmer Lake Station.” Fittingly, the Fort Carson Mounted Honor Guard closes out this year’s Chautauqua activities on Sunday afternoon, lakeside, with a cavalry demonstration, posting and retiring the flag, and a heart-pounding saber charge off the field.
The Return of the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua is a monumental community effort only possible with generous support from the towns of Monument and Palmer Lake, Pinecrest Event Center, the Palmer Lake Historical Society and various commercial and individual sponsors, as well as the exhibitors, demonstrators and scores of volunteers dedicating their time and energies.
Most activities and events are free. For information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.palmerlakechautauqua.org.
