This year is Henry County’s Bicentennial. So, in honor of this occasion, the Bishop Hill Chautauqua will look back at the people who impacted Henry County history. A modern-day Chautauqua is when storytellers, actors, and historians perform first-person portrayals of famous historical figures. This free festival will occur in the village park gazebo on Saturday August 9.
The day begins at 9 a.m. with “A Storyteller’s Tour of Bishop Hill”, a walking tour led by professional storyteller and historian Brian “Fox” Ellis. The tour will last about 90 minutes and circle the town. The tour will include stories of the founding of the town, as well as some of its more colorful recent history.
After the tour, the programs will start in the gazebo. At 10:30 a.m. in the park, Jimmy Lakota Edwards will talk about Native American history in our area. At 1 p.m., Brian “Fox” Ellis will perform as Benjamin Dunn Walsh, the first State Entomologist of Illinois who lived just outside the Bishop Hill Colony. Mr. Ellis will give an outsider’s viewpoint of the Bishop Hill Colony. At 2 p.m., Angie Snook, retired Geneseo Historical Museum director, will portray Harriet Cone Miller, a member of one of the founding families of Geneseo. Mrs. Snook will tell us the inner workings of the Underground Railroad in Henry County. At 3 p.m., singer-songwriter Barry Cloyd will portray Illinois poet laureate and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg. Carl Sandburg’s sister Mary was a teacher at the Bishop Hill Colony School. To conclude the day, at 4:00 p.m., the Bishop Hill Heritage Association is hosting a fika with the performers at the park gazebo. Fika is a Swedish tradition of coffee and conversation; in this instance the audience is invited to ask questions of the performer and about their historical characters.
All the Chautauqua programs will be held at the gazebo in Bishop Hill’s town square, on the corners of Main Street and Bishop Hill Road, in Bishop Hill, IL. Folks are encouraged to bring a lawn chair. This free public event is sponsored by the Bishop Hill Heritage Association, Community State Bank, Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, Geneseo Foundation, Galesburg Community Foundation, and Fox Tales International. For more information, call 309-927-3899, visit www.bishophillheritage.org or email bhha@mymctc.net .
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