Jeffersonville's Chautauqua focuses on 50s, brings in the crowds

By DAVID A. MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com

May 17, 2008 04:05 pm

— At the end of World War II, the U.S. government put a for sale sign on a piece of land in downtown Jeffersonville, author Carl Kramer told his audience.
That piece of land became Jeffboat. Next door, in Clarksville, Colgate-Palmolive Co. became the centerpiece of a growing chemical market.
Developers began building homes. Population numbers began to swell with the baby boom.
“Clark Countians had an almost euphoric sense of hope,” with the growing opportunities, said Kramer, co-author of “This Place We Call Home.”
That was the 1950s in Southern Indiana. And Kramer’s talk was only one aspect of a festival seeking to celebrate that decade during the weekend: The Howard Steamboat Museum’s Victorian Chautauqua. The museum was opened in 1958 and it’s celebrating its 50th anniversary by giving this year’s festival a 1950’s theme.
The outdoor festival — which features talks, vendors, music and poodle skirts-aplenty — kicked off Saturday and continues today.
Crowds perused vendors’ wares early Saturday afternoon.
Jewelry vendor Kelley Kirchner’s does about a dozen such gatherings a year, but it was her first year at Chautauqua.
“It’s extremely pleasant,” she said. “It’s a wonderful ambiance.”
Mildred Clark could be mistaken as a customer — poking through for-sale-earrings at the booth next door — but she was actually one of the antique vendors at the event.
The beautiful weather made for a good day, she said.
“But I’m spending more than I'm selling.”
“We could not have gotten a better day,” said Yvonne Knight, the museum’s director. Like years past, the festival attracted a number of newcomers to the museum.
Many festival-goers confessed to her that it was the first time they had visited, she said.
Chautauqua is the steamboat museum’s biggest fundraiser. It typically brings in about $10,000.
Day-two of the festival starts at 11 a.m. Sunday. Mayor Tom Galligan will make a proclamation, the U.S. Postal Service will have a stamp cancellation and an Elvis impersonator is scheduled to perform.

THE FUN ISN'T OVER YET
The Victorian Chautauqua continues today at the Howard Steamboat Museum and Mansion. Here’s what’s on tap:
• 11 a.m.: “Garden Talk,” by Cheryl Gilbert of Olde Thyme Log House Gardens
• 12 p.m.: “A year of views at Hidden Hill nursery,” slides by Bob Hill of Hidden Hill nursery.
• 1 p.m.: “Spring Street,” a play. Its finale will be “An Elvis sighting.”
• 2 p.m.: Mayor Tom Galligan's Howard Steamboat Museum Day proclamation
• 2:15 p.m.: The U.S. Postal Service opens the Howard Steamboat Museum Golden Anniversary Station cancellation
• 2:30 p.m.: Birthday Cake and “Elvis.”
• 3 p.m.: Elvis impersonator, Ray Glenn

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.