Chautauqua in Cape

The Chautauqua tradition dates back to 1874, when a businessman and a Methodist minister established a summer camp on Lake Chautauqua, N.Y. Their goal was to train Sunday school teachers, but the educational programs quickly expanded, and the idea of bringing in speakers to uplift rural America was copied in tents all around America.

Chautauquas became popular before the Great Depression ended most of them. But the idea is still alive, thanks to the Missouri Humanities Council.

Cape Girardeau has been chosen as one of three Missouri communities to host Chautauqua events next June. Over six nights, performers will portray Dr. George Washington Carver, John James Audubon, Theodore Roosevelt, farm activist May Elizabeth Lease and fast-food pioneer Fred Harvey. Live music also will be on the program.

In the Chautauqua tradition, members of the community will have an opportunity to help raise the tent.

Chautauqua is not new here. Cape Girardeau hosted its first in 1907. Others were held in 1913, 1914, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1921 and 1924, sometimes in Cape Girardeau, other times in Jackson.

The earliest of these events were called Circuit Chautauquas because the speakers and entertainers traveled a circuit. Some included bands and opera stars. Ernestine Schumann-Heink, who performed in Cape Girardeau in 1920, was one of the best-known entertainers on the circuit. She did not perform here at a Chautauqua, but rather to celebrate the installation of the Southeast Missourian's new press.

Bohumir Kryl's Bohemian Band became known for its version of the "Anvil Chorus," performed with the help of "four anvils with four husky timpanists in leather aprons. ... As the hammers clanged down on the anvils, an electric device sent sparks cascading around the darkened stage." Kryl's Bohemian Band performed in Cape Girardeau in 1922.

It sounds like a precursor to the laser light show that will accompany tonight's performance by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Show Me Center.

Welcome back.