Chautauqua draws a crowd to Jeffersonville

Clark County

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Several vendors sold a variety of items from crafts to flowers and plants during the Victorian Chautauqua on Saturday in Jeffersonville. Staff photo by Daniel Suddeath
Thoroughbred Chorus performs during the Victorian Chautauqua on Saturday in Jeffersonville. They were one of several groups that performed during the Victorian Chautauqua over the weekend. Staff photo by Daniel Suddeath

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May 20, 2012

Chautauqua draws a crowd to Jeffersonville

Festival celebrates tradition that dates back to 1874

By DANIEL SUDDEATH daniel.suddeath@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Sun May 20, 2012, 04:26 PM EDT

JEFFERSONVILLE — One of the major annual fundraisers for the Howard Steamboat Museum in Jeffersonville — the Victorian Chautauqua — was celebrated over the weekend with hundreds of people gathering to listen to live music, make purchases from dozens of vendors and learn something about history.

“We’ve really enjoyed it, they have a great variety and the food has been excellent,” said Vicki Bordner, who along with her friend Dora Phillips made their inaugural trip to the Victorian Chautauqua this year from Scottsburg.

“It’s a lovely day too,” said Phillips, as the sun glistened above the lawn of the Howard Steamboat Museum on Saturday.

The two-day event, which has been in Jeffersonville for 20 years, spans the weekend with entertainment from several performers as well as walking tours of the museum and items available for purchase from vendors until the booths close at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

The event is patterned after the original Chautauqua, which was in Lake Chautauqua, N.Y. in 1874. This year, those who attended were treated to performances by the likes of Thoroughbred Chorus and Jamey Aebersold while getting to view one of the museum’s key recent upgrades, the pilothouse.

The steamboat pilothouse will officially be introduced during a June 9 ceremony, and will be another tribute to the area’s ties to the Ohio River.

“Jeffersonville is here because of the river,” said Keith Norrington, curator of the Howard Steamboat Museum & Mansion.

He said the Victorian Chautauqua is a vital fundraiser for the museum since it doesn’t receive local, state or federal funding. And thankfully, Norrington said, people have widely supported the festival, especially recently.

“The last couple of years, with what the economy has been, a lot of people have told me that in lieu of vacations they do local things,” he said.

The event is also a place for vendors to make a few bucks selling plants, jewelry and crafts. On Saturday, several book vendors lined the lawn in front of the museum selling literature with historical ties.

Author Donald Curtis came to the event from Kentucky to sell his first book, “The Cane Creek Mormon Massacre.”

The book details a brutal attack on Mormon missionaries in 1884 in Lewis County, Tenn.

While it was the first time Curtis attended the Victorian Chautauqua, his publishing company — Bearhead Publishing LLC — has set up a booth for the past seven years at the festival.

“It’s always a top-notch show,” said Gary Drechsel, president of Bearhead Publishing.

Next to the Bearhead tent was a booth operated by author Bonnie Poore, who along with her late husband Lloyd Poore, owned the Bonnie Belle. The boat was operated in Jeffersonville, and she wrote a book about its travels titled “Welcome Aboard ... Meet the Captain.”

The book is geared to people who feel a connection to the Ohio River and water, she said. Poore added the Victorian Chautauqua permeates a sense of union between those who love and respect the water, as Jeffersonville has a storied history with ship making.

“I love it, I think this is great,” she said of the festival.

Jo Ann Schven of Corydon has served as a volunteer for the event for several years. She recalled coming to the museum as a child to learn about steamboats.

Her family, like many in the area, has roots in the business that date back well into the 19th Century.

“The river is in my blood,” she said.