Chautauqua lassos history, imagination

Ottawa took a trip back to the time of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression last week.

The Kansas-Nebraska Chautauqua — “Bright Dreams, Hard Times: America in the Thirties” brought a traveling Dust Bowl photography exhibit, several workshops for all ages, a 1930s radio show and performances from five re-enactors who portrayed historical figures President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Louisiana Sen. Huey Long, humorist Will Rogers, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson and Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston.

“We’ve been really pleased. The Ottawa audience has been great,” Tracy Quillin, Kansas Humanities Council director of communications, said about the Chautauqua, which was Thursday through Sunday.

Kristi Lee, Franklin County Convention and Visitors Bureau director, estimates that about 500 people attended the four-day event.

“We’re very pleased with the turnout,” Lee said.

Outside the Chatauqua tent at City Park, Fifth and Main streets, people were able to mark the city or state they were visiting from with a pin.

Visitors from outside the state hailed from Oklahoma, Nebraska, California, Florida, Missouri and Florida. Kansas visitors came from Clay Center, Topeka, Washington, Garnett, Tonganoxie and other cities.

“You typically get a lot of visitors from the surrounding communities,” Quillin said.

History entertained not only people from outside the area but residents as well.

A self-admitted history buff, Daryl Gloshen, rural Ottawa, said he enjoyed seeing Rogers and Roosevelt in the tent performances.

Being an observer wasn’t the highlight of Chautauqua for Gloshen, however. He was excited that he got a chance to take part in the Chautauqua as the master of ceremonies in tent at City Park, he said.

“I’m interested in listening and learning a lot more,” Gloshen said. “I couldn’t pass this up.”