Chautauquans

Visitor at the fountain in  Bestor Square




Chautauqua isn’t a place; it’s people.


Actually, Chautauqua is perhaps best described as a community – a place and also the people who are there.  Today I’m going to write about people.

Each week there is headline entertainment and newsworthy speakers.  Tomorrow I’ll write about the speakers here this week.  I’m going to write now about the people who hear the speakers, people known as Chautauquans.

Most of us live within a day’s drive of Chautauqua, although a few people in other parts of the country figure out how to get here after flying to Jamestown, NY or Erie, PA.  Those who come once tend to come again and again.  There are friendships formed that get refreshed year to year.

About 8500 people are here on any given week in the summer.  Some stay all season; others come for just one week or one day.  There are very few hardy souls who are year-round residents, putting up with 250 – 300 inches of snow in the winter.  The rest of us simply enjoy the warm summer sun.

There’s probably a story to be told about every person here.  I’ll just tell one that I know fairly well.  It’s about a woman named Susan, who got me to take up the hobby of knitting.  Five years ago Susan decided that instead of knitting for herself or for family or friends, she would knit  prayer shawls for women caught in conflict areas.  She thought she could find others in Chautauqua who would do the same, and so she formed an organization, Women4Women-Knitting4Peace.  I would never take on an ambitious project such as knitting a prayer shawl, but I was entranced by little Peace Pal dolls I saw a woman knitting a few years ago.  Knit, purl, knit, purl, row after row.  I could do that!  Well, I have.  And on Monday I brought Susan the 14 Peace Pal dolls I’ve made over the past year.  From the network of women who have come to Chautauqua and gone home to encourage friends to participate, Susan has collected Peace Shawls, Peace Pals, and Peace Blankets that have gone to more than 35 countries – carried by volunteer medical workers, missionaries, and others.  Susan announced that over 13,000 items have been collected.  With the 14 that I gave her, she now has more than 13,014.