Chautauqua begins today in Cape

Chautauqua performers arrived in Cape Girardeau on Sunday and made final preparations for the weeklong historical festival that begins today.

The event will feature Chautauqua scholars impersonating historic figures speaking at various locations throughout Cape Girardeau. Nightly events will take place at the community tent, which will be raised at 6 p.m. today at the Osage Community Centre.

Doug Mishler will present the first program of the week, "Breakfast with Teddy Roosevelt," at 8 a.m. at Cup 'N' Cork, 46 N. Main St.

"We're excited to host the beginning event," said Barry Robinson, owner of Cup 'N' Cork. "It's going to be a real eye-opener and will provide a lot of historic value to our community."

Chautauqua was an event that first took place in 1874. The last time Cape Girardeau played host to the event was in 1924.

"It's been a long time coming," said Joel Rhodes, Southeast Missouri State University history professor and member of the local Chautauqua organizing committee.

Rhodes is looking forward to the weeklong event -- something he and other committee members have spent months preparing for. "In all honesty, I've never seen a complete Chautauqua event. I'm real anxious to see it," he said.

The event will be mainly geared towards adults but Rhodes hopes parents will bring their children to see the nightly events.

For Cape Girardeau resident Sue Balsamo, Chautauqua is something she's especially interested in -- her grandmother was part of an early Chautauqua circuit that traveled the country. Balsamo even has an old Chautauqua playbill with her grandmother's picture on it.

"I think she would read or recite different things at Chautauqua," Balsamo said. In fact, Balsamo's grandmother met her husband while performing at a Chautauqua in Memphis, Tenn., years ago.

"I've never been to one before so I think the whole thing will be exciting," Balsamo said. "It will be very interesting to hear these people who are so well versed on someone else's life."

Along with a Theodore Roosevelt impersonator, other performers will play the roles of John James Audubon, Mary Elizabeth Lease, Fred Harvey and George Washington Carver. The scholars will only perform in full costume during the nightly events at the Osage Community Centre.

The presentations are free.

The Missouri Humanities Council selects three communities each year to play host to the event. This year the other two communities were Maryville and Kirkwood.

jfreeze@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 246

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Today, June 19

* 8 a.m. -- Doug Mishler as Theodore Roosevelt at Cup 'N' Cork

* 6 p.m. - Community tent raising at the Osage Community Centre

Tuesday, June 20

* 10 a.m. -- Paxton Williams as George Washington Carver at St. James AME Church

* 2 p.m. - Richard Johnson as John James Audubon at the Cape Girardeau Public Library

* 2 p.m. - Glenna J. Wallace as Mary Elizabeth Lease at Chateau Girardeau

* 7 p.m. - Mishler as Roosevelt with entertainment by the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band at the Osage Community Centre

Wednesday, June 21

7 a.m. -- Misheler as Roosevelt at Denny's Diner

2 p.m. - William Worley as Fred Harvey at the Cape Girardeau Public Library

7 p.m. - Johnson as Audubon with entertainment by Dennis Stroughmatt at the Osage Center

Thursday, June 22

8 a.m. -- Worley as Harvey at Grace Cafe

10 a.m. - Johnson as Audubon at the Red House Interpretive Center

noon -- Mishler as Roosevelt at the Show Me Center

noon -- Williams as Carver at the Family Resource Center

7 p.m. - Glenna J. Wallace as Mary Elizabeth Lease with entertainment by Shade Tree Folk Company at the Osage Community Center

Friday, June 23

10 a.m. -- Williams as Carver, site to be determined

10 a.m. -- Wallace as Lease at the Cape River Heritage Museum

7 p.m. - Worley as Harvey with entertainment by The Jerry Ford Dixieland Band at the Osage Center

Saturday, June 24

7 p.m. - Williams as Carver with entertainment by Vintage Strings at the Osage Community Center