Laurel Park Chautaugua July 29-31
This weekend continues a decades-old tradition that follows the idea of Chautauqua: a people’s university where ideas could be exercised in the open air. On Friday night, see Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn, the one-act, two-person play that was sold out when it was performed in Northampton earlier this year. Saturday is our big event: An afternoon of music, entertainment, interesting talks, readings, bicycle trailer rides, and hula-hooping! It’s all-ages and free to attend. Sunday night caps off the weekend with a contra dance led by caller David Kaynor in historic Normal Hall.
The schedule:
Friday, 7:00 p.m., Normal Hall
“Save Me a Place at Forest Lawn”
A one-act play. Q&A session and reception with refreshments to follow.
$10 per person
Saturday, noon ’til after dinner, Tabernacle area
All events today are FREE
Music by Moonshine Holler (at noon)
A talk about soil
A presentation about local green initiatives
Readings by a local author
Lonesome Brothers (at 4:00)
Also:
Hula hooping and bicycle trailer rides
A brief performance by the Ladies’ Whistling Choir
Art and Craft show and sale
A collaborative art installation
River Valley Market will be selling lunch items from 1 – 3 p.m., and snacks will be available to purchase after 3.
There’ll be a potluck barbecue on the grounds starting at 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, 5 to 8 p.m., Normal Hall
Contra Dance with caller David Kaynor
Admission: $5-10 sliding scale
Directions: Laurel Park is on Rt. 5 & 10, exactly one mile north of the Walmart on North King Street, Northampton. Please enter through the stone gate on the right, and take a map to help you with parking. If you’re coming from out of town, take exit 21 on Rt. 91 (from either direction), and take a left onto 5&10. Laurel Park is on your right, about a quarter-mile up.
The non profit Laurel Park Association is pleased to pursue its mission of providing entertaining, enlightening, thought-provoking, and fun events for the public, in the spirit of the camp and the Chautauqua movement that originally inspired the founding of Laurel Park.
Sponsored by the non-profit Laurel Park Association http://www.laurelparkassociation.org/
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About Laurel Park:
Laurel Park got its start in the 1870s as a Methodist camp meeting site. From that time through the 1930s, it was a popular summer destination as thousands of people came to religious services and to hear the best-known speakers and entertainers of the day. But as other kinds of entertainment became more popular, interest in camp meetings waned. In 1968 the Springfield Camp Meeting Association turned ownership over to the cottage owners as the Laurel Park Association, which maintained the Park as a religious community. Around the same time, homeowners began winterizing their cottages as affordable year-round homes.
In 1985, the Homeowners at Laurel Park Condominium Trust was formed, and purchased the land on which the units now stand from the Laurel Park Association. This freed the non-profit Laurel Park Association to focus on its mission of providing entertaining, enlightening, thought-provoking, and fun events for the public, in the spirit of the camp and the Chautauqua movement that originally inspired the founding of Laurel Park.
Contact:
Kate Richardson (LPA Vice Chair)
109 Laurel Park
Northampton MA 01060
kate@nottooloud.com
ph: 413-584-7351