Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 18, 2005 Essentially Ashland Ashland’s Chautauqua heritage Lance Pugh In 1974 a group of hippies, New Agers, philosophers and artists celebrated the city’s centennial in Lithia Park It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon on the 28th of September, 1974, as we strolled through the upper reaches of Lithia Park, attending the “New Age Chautauqua,” which a group of us helped create under the leadership of Jim C. Sims (councilor and mayoral candidate) and Lenny Friedman (of Pyramid Juice). A true cross-section of Ashland, estimated at 5,000, strolled through the seven lecture/performance areas where speeches, musical presentations, actors, artists, storytellers, poets, mystics, philosophers, historians and others let it rip throughout the day. By all accounts it was an instant, though unexpected, success. Several years before, a group had put on a Renaissance Fair in the park. The relative mix of incense and patchouli oil rattled the gentle sensibilities of the nervous “old guard” of Ashland. The concomitant appearance of long-hair, beards, flutes, drums and diaphanous gowns sent the self-righteous to the ground, just before calling the police and demanding an end to too much hair, flesh and suspicious smoke. The city fathers spoke like a drone from a deserted dumpster and made it nearly impossible for any grouping of “new age, counter-culture or hippies” (take your pick) to gather in public in any numbers. Two loops around the sun later and it became apparent that no one in city government or elsewhere had made any preparations to celebrate the centennial of the incorporation of the City of Ashland. Enter Jim and Lenny with a pre-planned celebration of ambitious scale, which asked nothing of the city save permission to stage the event for one day in Lithia Park … which pushed things to the limit in the eyes of the Old School. Mayor Archie C. Fries , center, talks with Chautauqua organizers James C. Smis, left and Lenny Friedman after agreeing to speak at the Sept. 28, 1974 New Age Chautauqua in this Sept. 19, 1974, Daily Tidings photo. Chautauqua lectures borrow their name from the Seneca word for a lake in New York. Outdoor summer training sessions for Sunday school teachers began there in 1874 at an old Methodist church campsite. The program rapidly grew into a liberal arts summer camp for adults with the addition of classical music, literary readings, physical education, and historic reenactments. Chautauqua camps and circuits formed throughout the country as part of the populist adult education movement of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. The Billings family was responsible for getting a Chautauqua sited at the present location of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s outdoor Elizabethan Stage, and annual Chautauquas were held there for the next quarter of a century. Speeches, essays, poetry and singing were all part of the Chautauqua presentations. In many ways, it was the precursor to our Shakespeare festival. Without the shell of the Chautauqua, it is very doubtful that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival would be in existence today. In 1893 a Chautauqua building (or “tabernacle”) was erected. The structure was capped by a dome and visitors camped in the newly dedicated Lithia Park, where fresh water and shade were then, as now, abundant. Lithia Park, which began with eight acres in 1892 as a place where the Chautauqua Association could bring entertainment and culture to Southern Oregon, has continued to grow and change along with the community that surrounds it. Its growth and development from a Chautauqua site (where the original Shakespeare theater began in 1935) to a complete reflection of the public parks movement makes it of great historical as well as landscape interest. At the urging of the Women’s Civic Improvement Club, the people of Ashland, in 1908, passed a measure to include park maintenance in the City Charter. Having these facts behind us, a focus on the 1974 event is in order, per quotes in the Tidings run several days before the event: • Music in a variety of styles, with performers including the Ashland High School Prep Band, Rainbow Trail, Pat Oppelt on the bagpipes, the Old-Time Fiddlers, the Faith Tabernacle Choir, the Ashland Senior citizens’ Singing Group, classical guitarist Charles Armstrong, the Senior Citizens’ Orchestra, the Real Hillbillys, the Flaming Zucchini, and several guitarist-vocalists. • Talks on subjects ranging from “The Coming of the Space People” to “Discussions of the American Indian.” Ashland Mayor Archie Fries, orator Howard Runkle, historian Frank Haines and Dr. Aubrey Hill, M.D., will be among the speakers. • A historical display area containing a pictorial exhibit of Old Ashland, antique tools, instruments and vintage automobiles. • Children’s plays by members of the Southern Oregon College “Wagon Theater” troupe and the Talent Junior High School eighth grade puppeteers. A group from Ashland High School will present “The Wizard of Oz.” • Presentations on solar energy as a power source, macrobiotics, transcendental meditations, organic farming and astrology. • Audience participation in demonstrations of square-dancing, yoga, body language, folk dancing, children’s dancing, Tai Chi (Chinese Exercises) and Sufi dancing. Things flowed smoothly and the town began to realize that most of us that looked a little strange to them were educated, well-mannered and concerned about our community. We saw an opportunity to give back to Ashland a little — in the excuse of celebrating a centennial. The Tidings editorial page some days later said the event was a “Park Program.” We used Lithia Park as the physical location of the event, but the event clearly did not originate from the Parks Department, nor from the “Ashland Centennial Committee,” which existed in name only until we put ideas and manpower to the concept. At every juncture we had hurdles placed before us and deep concerns expressed. The city offered nothing, but somehow held its hat out to accept congratulations for the successful event. The parks department, which was then known as a mere extension of the city administrator’s office, demanded a $400 fee for this (their own?) event for which they would later claim credit. One legend of Ashland, Dom Provost, strode forward and paid the then-considerable fee (gas sold for 49 cents a gallon) — an act that disgruntled the red necks in the roost. Dom was always a man of vision and, accordingly, had many hurdles placed in front of his projects through the years. Jim Sims summed up the event succinctly: “I was awestruck by the universal optimism as expressed by the interfaith discussion held between seven different branches of faith. The whole day went that way. It still can.” I was at the baby contest for the Fourth of July the other day, taking pictures of plump, jolly babies as Ashland Creek flowed in a drone in the background. The tall trees and cool waters offered a brief respite from the pressures of the day as my mind drifted back to the days of the New Age Chautauqua and how it permitted us to both bond with the longtime locals while bringing new thinking to the community equation. We came to Ashland for a sense of community. Some now come only to maximize their fortunes and miss out entirely on the people who have helped make life in this small berg both unique and enjoyable — if you can spare the time, wave hello, help a stray dog or care for your neighbor as you would wish to be cared for. Future columns will focus on many downtown businesses and key individuals that have helped make Ashland unique: Frederica Lawrence and The Black Sheep, as well as key individuals and events will lead the charge from times past to lend perspective to the revival of the Downtown. Send your favorite remembrances to: [email protected]. Drop by my blog and help me figure things out: http://essentiallyashland.blogspot.com/ DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams