Wake Upo TriCounties Todd Dedecker Bishop Hill Chatauqua 2021

The Bishop Hill Chatauqua is this weekend, Saturday August 28th and Sunday August 29th at the Twinflower Inn in Bishop Hill. Todd Dedecker with the Bishop Hill Heritage Association joined WKEI on Wake Up Tri-Counties to talk about what the Chatauqua means to the celebration of the 175th Anniversary of Bishop Hill. The weekend's events kick on Saturday August 28th the day begins at 10 a.m. with “A Storyteller's Tour of Bishop Hill”, a walking tour lead by Brian “Fox” Ellis that begins at the Twinflower Inn. The tour will last about 90 minutes, circle the town, and include stories of the founding of the town as well as some of its more colorful recent history.
At 1:00 p.m., Bucky Halker will tell the story of Joe Hill, a Swedish immigrant and labor activist who was immortalized in song. Halker will weave together the story of Joe Hill’s life with some of the songs for which he is remembered. At 2:00 p.m., Brian “Fox” Ellis will portray one of Bishop Hill’s Founding Fathers, Jonas Olson, who gave a leg up to Eric Janson in the Devotionalist movement in Sweden, and then helped to organize the council that managed the Bishop Hill Colony after Janson was murdered.
To finish Saturday’s performances, at 3:00 p.m., Paula Vankuren will portray the world renowned vocalist, The Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind. Her performance will include songs by Frederic Mendelssohn, who had a crush on the young singer.
On Sunday, August 29, the program starts at 1:00 p.m. with Brian “Fox” Ellis portraying the scholar Peter Christian Asbjornsen, who was a friend of the Grimm Brothers and one of the first to make the connections between ecology and folklore. At 2:00 p.m., Barry Cloyd will portray Carl Sandburg, Illinois Poet Laureate, whose sister taught at the Bishop Hill School. At 3:00 p.m., Kay Price will bring to life Astrid Lindgren, the Swedish author of many award winning books including Pipi Longstocking. Lindgren toured the country 50 years ago and wrote insightful essays about American culture.