WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 2004
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
3
Lawrence celebrates birthday
Chautauqua festivities marked by performances lectures and workshops
By John Scheirman
jscheirman@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Lawrence marks its 150th birthday this year by celebrating with a series of activities in the next several months. The Bleeding Kansas Chautauqua, June 24 to 29, is the next scheduled event.
According to Judy Billings, director of the Lawrence Visitors and Convention Bureau, the Chautauqua will include music specific to the time and other forms of entertainment.
Six scholars will portray characters from history. They will answer questions from the audience after the performance. Many of the Chautauqua's events will occur under a large tent in South Park, between 11th and 12th Streets on Massachusetts Street.
"A festival of learning, if you will — with a kids' tent and concessions," Billings said.
Festivities will begin at noon on Thursday, June 24 with a Lunch Pail lecture by Tom Eblen, a retired KU journalism professor, titled "Territorial Newspapers." The talk will occur at the Watkins Community Museum, 11th and Massachusetts Streets.
The tent raising is scheduled to be completed at 6:00 p.m., followed by a concert from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. featuring the Euphoria String Band.
Other musical events in the Chautauqua will include concerts by the Freestaters on June 25, the Gum Springs Serenaders on June 26, the Kaw Valley Cornet Band on June 27, Byron Wiley on June 28 and Diane Gillenwater on June 29.
The first historical character to appear in the tent program will be the former slave and abolitionist leader, Frederick Douglass, on Friday, June 25, at 7:00 p.m.
Fred Krebs, a Johnson County Community College professor, will portray Stephan Douglas, and Dianne Eickhoff, a Kansas City, Kan., resident, will portray Clarina Nichols — a woman suffragette with Susan B. Anthony who lived in Kansas, according to Billings.
Other characters portrayed will be Abraham Lincoln, abolitionist John Brown and U.S. Sen. David Atchison.
Activities for young people will include children's workshops a five-day Youth Chautauqua Camp for fifth through eighth grades and Kid-Tauqua Tent Activities each evening.
"A festival of learning, if you will — with a kids' tent and concessions."
Judy Billings
Director of the Lawrence Visitors and Convention Bureau
Chautauqua will also include adult workshops, a temperance rally, a guided tour of Underground Railroad sites and a horse-drawn trolley ride through downtown.
The Chautauqua is one of the two main events during Lawrence's sesquicentennial celebration. The other is a parade on Sept. 18, the anniversary of when Lawrence was founded.
For a complete list of Chautauqua events, go to the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau's Web site at www.lawrence150.org/calendar, or call the bureau at 865-4411. More information about the Kansas Territory sesquicentennial can be found at the Kansas Humanities Council web site, info@kansashumanities.org and the Kansas State Historical Society web site at www.kshs.org/sesquicentennial/.
- Edited by Abby Tillery
STATE
Huge storm floods crops, creates problems for farmers
JUNCTION CITY — Farmers had to respond quickly to save equipment and livestock as flash floods swept through parts of Geary County early yesterday.
The area received about three and a half inches of rain, considerably less than some areas farther to the south, where estimates of rainfall ranged from five to nine inches.
The rain flooded many farmers' wheat crops, and local residents said hay bales blew apart in the wind.
Garry Berges, the county emergency coordinator, said the county extension agent who joined him in touring the flood-stricken area estimated 20 percent of the wheat crop was damaged.
The flash flooding left a lot of debris on the road, and the force of the water brought some fence lines to the ground.
Farmers said the result of the storms would be severe. They expect a lot of driftwood in the fields, and a layer of silt across the crops. Ironically, farmers said it was almost necessary that a shower occur after a large storm.
The Associated Press
The light rain is most likely the best way to wash away the damage done by the storm.