Chautauqua Brings Bessie Coleman Display to Juneteenth Celebration
On Friday June 19, the Chautauqua Preservation Society will display posters and flyers honoring Waxahachie native and American hero Bessie Coleman to Penn Park as part of Waxahachie's Juneteenth celebration.
Bessie Coleman grew up here in Waxahachie and later moved to Chicago. She decided that she wanted to fly airplanes, but she was unable to find flying lessons here in this country because of her race and gender. She then moved to Paris, France to learn to fly and, in 1921, she received her international pilot’s license. She then toured the US, organizing exhibition flights and speaking about the potential of the people of her race. Bessie Coleman hoped to open a flying school for Blacks and was close to achieving her goal in 1926 when she died in a plane crash, during a test flight for an air show. On Sept. 26, 1925, Bessie Coleman returned to Waxahachie to perform a fly-over over her home town. And on Sept. 26, 2015 (the 90th anniversary of her fly-over visit) , Atlanta actor Joanna Maddox will bring to life the story and passion of Bessie Coleman on the Chautauqua stage. |
Come walk with us in the Waxahachie 4th of July parade!  The Waxahachie Chautauqua & Midway Airport are coming together to "Celebrate Flight" by creating a joint float which will proceed down the parade route of
College Street and Main Street. All are invited to walk in the parade with us. Just wear your red & white & blue & comfortable shoes and show up at our float on College Street on July 4th by 9am. You
will recognize our float by the model bi-plane. And there will be a balloon waiting there for you to carry along the way!
The annual parade begins on College Street
at 10am and takes about an hour to make its way slowly down Main Street to Getzendaner Park.
Auditorium Will Get New Roof
For the first time since its restoration in 1975, the historic Chautauqua Auditorium will be displaying a new roof soon. That's 40 years! John Smith, director of Waxahachie Parks, tells us that Calvary Construction will be the contractor, pending approval of the contract
by City Council in July. Reconstructing the
roof is scheduled for August and should
take about 15 days.
Since the roof will be made of new cedar shingles, its color will look unusually orange-ish to our eyes, while the shingles weather
to their ultimate gray. The roof is 13,860 square feet and will need 120.7 squares of shingles
.
How will the new roof look?
We are excited to see this historic structure being cared for in this 40th anniversary of its restoration!
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| If you haven't yet, don't forget to join Chautauqua for 2015!
You can go to our website:
And either: PRINT OUT FORM
Or JOIN ONLINE with PayPal
Join us in 2015 AND attend a Member-Only performance of Dallas Cirque Theater at the Waxahachie Civic Center on Friday, July 17 at 7pm. ALL MEMBERS are invited to "celebrate flight" as performers of the Dallas Cirque Theater fly through the air during this special Member-Only event.
In addition, at this event on July 17th, we will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the rescue & restoration our 1902 unique Chautauqua Auditorium. We will honor the Pioneer Preservationists, whose vision and perseverance saved the Waxahachie Chautauqua.
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