Dream On

America owes a lot to her dreamers, the people who stayed true to their beliefs, building personal empires — and anti-empires — that helped shape what’s come to be known as the American Way. Which, if you think about it, is really a story of multiple roads taken. Iconoclasts, romantics, utopians and visionaries — folks like Henry Thoreau, Mark Twain, P.T. Barnum and Thomas Edison — will be in the spotlight at this year’s High Plains Chautauqua (subtitled “The American Spirit: Practical Dreamers”), which begins today and continues through August 9 in Greeley.

If you’re not familiar with the Chautauqua experience — a traveling tent-show relic of the Belle Époque at which scholar/actors assume the roles the roles of historic figures — this is the place to live it. An ongoing American history lesson featuring continuous lectures and performances for all ages, the five-day event in a tent at Aims Community College, 5401 West 20th Street in Greeley, is full of food for thought, as well as absolutely free. A complete schedule is available at www.highplainschautauqua.org; for details, call 1-970-339-6365.
Aug. 5-9, 2008