Before the Tea Party Festival, Chestertown had the Chautauqua. In this undated photograph, a parade of children dressed in matching white follows a group of young men in military fatigues carrying a large American flag. The children carry a banner reading Chestertown MD. Chautauqua.
While we don’t know what year this photo was taken, we do know that the Chestertown Chautauqua was an week-long annual summer event in the early 20th century. The Saturday, August 15, 1925 edition of The Chestertown Transcript includes two separate items referring to that year’s Chautauqua. The first reads:
Sunday services will be held in the Chautauqua tent as usual, this year. Dr. Robert Mac Gowen, who will deliver “The Creed of Democracy” as the open lecture of Chautauqua on Saturday evening will also preach at the community Sunday service in the Chautauqua tent. Dr. Mac Gowen is pastor of the Bellevue Avenue Presbytreian [sic] Church of Pittsburgh. The Royal Welsh male quarette will sing also at the Sunday service.
The second, headlined “Chautauqua Begins Today” provides all the details and persuasive arguments needed to spark interest in attending the event:
The 1925 chautauqua said to be the best series of entertainments yet given here since it was organized, will begin this evening at 3 p.m. Everyone should see the Chautauqua. It is the biggest intellectual treat served here during the year. To duplicate it, as a whole, would require days of travel and much money. Tickets are $2.50 and $1.00. The price of each performance is 21 cents. Every lover of Chautauqua could buy their season ticket before the first entertainment begins. After that the proceeds go to the company, while the guarantors are compelled to make up any deficit.
In the September 6, 1919 edition of The Chestertown Transcript, an accounting of that year’s Chautauqua program includes speeches entitled The League of Nations, Sun-Crowned Manhood, Dollars and Sense for Your Town, and others. Entertainment included performances by the Overseas Quartet, “consisting of four young men who saw active service in Europe, assisted by Miss Alice Price;” The Victory Concert Party; popular drama Poly of the Circus, and the opera Robinhood, with “a full cast, chorus, and orchestra.”
On the final day of the 1919 Chautauqua, the Transcript touts a pageant presented by Junior Chautauqua, for which “the childern [sic] of Chestertown are being drilled … every morning by competent instructors and the event will be a big event this year as it always is.” It would seem to be a reasonable assumption that the parade in today’s photo is part of such a pageant. If you have any information about this photograph or about Chestertown’s Chautauqua traditions, we invite you to share it in the comments here, or by emailing [email protected].
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