Recreation & Youth

Two springs ago, Jack Voelker attended a recreation professionals conference to present on reconnecting children with nature. At the same conference, a spokesman for the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program presented on enhancing the natural areas of golf courses. Voelker, general manager of the Chautauqua Golf Club, met with the spokesman to talk business and discovered that he was quite familiar with Chautauqua.

For Children’s School administrators, a major goal for several years has been to incorporate more outdoor learning for the kids who attend the program. This year, after five years of planning, designing and building, their goal has finally been reached. The final product: the new “sensory garden” in the backyard of the Children’s School, which allows children to experience nature in a whole new way.

In the south of Switzerland, they speak Italian. So the first time Sharon Creech visited Switzerland in 1982, she made sure to learn Italian. But when the Newbery Award-winning author of Walk Two Moons returned to the country in 2007, she found that hopping between English and Italian was much more difficult than it used to be.

Jackson Rohm, a Jamestown, N.Y., native, returns to the College Club for a free evening of acoustic country, rock and pop at 9 p.m. tonight. Rohm visited Chautauqua many times in his youth. Now, he tours across the eastern states with his music but returns to Chautauqua County every summer. Rohm has been entertaining audiences at the College Club for more than ten years.

SLIDESHOW: Last week, the Arthritics topped the Fashionable Gentlemen, the MOMS took down the Chautauqua Lakers and the Boomerangs beat the Belles. That could only mean one thing: Softball season at Chautauqua has begun.

SLIDESHOW & VIDEO: Scenes from Friday morning's Children's School's Independence Day Parade

Near the beginning of every Chautauqua summer, the sounds of children belting out patriotic tunes fill the air as the highly anticipated Children’s School Independence Day parade marches through the grounds. This year will be no exception. Today at 10 a.m., the children of Children’s School, along with Group 1 and Group 2 from Boys’ and Girls’ Club, will leave the Children’s School building, march down Pratt Avenue, stop at the Colonnade to sing several songs and proceed to the Amphitheater for a bit more singing.

For children who visit Chautauqua, Children’s School may be the beginning of a lifelong love for the Institution, according to Jack Voelker, director of the Department of Recreation and Youth Services. “It really is the entry-level experience of the life of the community, because this is how you start getting to be a part of the Chautauqua experience,” Voelker said. The program, which serves upward of 150 children per week, runs from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday for children ages 3 to 5.

The sun dazzled Mole’s sleepy eyes as he poked his nose out from his chilly underground home into the sweet-smelling spring air of the English countryside. The thrill of adventure beckoned as Mole set off in pursuit of what would soon become one of the most beloved tales of children’s literature, The Wind in the Willows. At 4:15 p.m. today in the Garden Room of Alumni Hall, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Young Readers Program will meet to discuss the most binding theme of this classic novel — friendship.

There are obvious ways to enjoy summer, like swimming, bike riding, ice cream and picnics. But for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle’s Young Readers Program, the summer — which is full of talking animals, angels, poets, unlikely heroes and adventure — is anything but typical.

During the season, Jason Yacone, Chautauqua Tennis Center’s maintenance supervisor, keeps the grass cut short, the weeds plucked and the nets pulled tight. But his real work begins when visitors are still months away from arriving.