The Boulder City Chautauqua has announced that due to COVID-19 restrictions they postponed their annual fall event for this year, BUT the dates for next year’s events are already set, and you’ll get two full days with a total of four performances to make up for this year’s loss! On Friday and Saturday, October 22 and 23, (2021) You’ll get to see performances of the Great American Humorists:
- Julia Child
- Will Rogers
- Erma Bombeck
- Mark Twain
We always enjoy these performances, and of course are sorry to miss this year’s event. However we’re thrilled at their resiliency and advance planning to be sure next year is an even bigger thrill!
If you don’t know much about the Boulder City Chautauqua, here is some additional information sent to us by their Project Director, Ihla Crowley:
Chautauquas are a wonderful experience, where history comes alive when scholars portray historical characters. Over the past 25 years, Boulder City residents have been loyal followers. Many will remember the first 10 of those years under a huge tent pitched in Bicentennial Park, near the gazebo. In 2002, after Desi Arnaz Jr. and his wife Amy renovated the Boulder Theatre, the event moved indoors; the first event they allowed in the new venue other than Miss Amy’s dance company productions.
Boulder City resident Ihla Crowley was the first Boulder City Chautauqua Project Director, working with the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association for 10 years, followed by Sara Weber and a faithful team of volunteers. After a few years, Miss Amy partnered with Sara, and she helped the organization become its own 501c3 Non-profit Organization.
After Miss Amy’s untimely death a few years ago, Sara continued as Project Director until this year, when Ihla was enlisted to return to the helm, along with a few fresh volunteer faces. Although in recent years the event was held with two performances in the same day, with just two characters depicted, the decision was made earlier this year to return to the original format of four characters spaced over the course of a weekend. Although we will have to wait a year for this event, it is heartening to know that after this forced hiatus it will return in 2021 in all its former glory.
