An artist’s rendition of a 19th-Century Chautauqua tent meeting, which Blacktip Island organizers hope to revive this weekend at the island’s Heritage House. (illustration courtesy of Jerrod Ephesians)
The Blacktip Island Ecumenical Council Thursday announced it will host a Chautauqua a two-day event, to provide island residents with education and entertainment, this Saturday and Sunday near the small Caribbean island’s Heritage House.
“It’s an old-time idea that needs to be resuscitated,” said BIEC leader, the former Reverend Jerrod Ephesians. “For an isolated place like Blacktip, it has special importance. This is a chance for Blacktippers of all walks of life to come together for conversations, readings and discussions of the issues of the day.
“We get too caught up with our daily tasks and lose sight of the big picture,” Ephesians said. “This’ll give us a restart to think about culture, art and new ideas with everyone in the community. Just because we’re a small, backwater island doesn’t mean we have to be cut off from the rest of the world.”
Organizers noted the weekend would feature a variety of learning opportunities.
“There’ll be offerings under the tent for everyone,” Blacktip Island Community Players director Doris Blenny said. “In addition to yodeling, impromptu interpretive dance and lecturers, we’ll also have workshops in painting, dominoes, philosophy and pantheistic religion.
“It will be as if a 19th Century French artistic salon was transported to Blacktip to provide everyone with a moral and spiritual uplift,” Blenny said. “The event will conclude with an open-mic poetry reading where attendees can describe their weekend experience.”
Some residents questioned the reason for the event.
“Sounds like a bunch of hippy nonsense to me,” Linford Blenny said. “Folks beatin’ on drums and givin’ themselves Indian names, I ‘spect. Just another excuse to drink and smoke dope, like everythin’ else on this little rock. Moral uplift? Anybody moves to this island, they gave up self-improvement long ago. That sort of thing just messes you up on Blacktip.”
Others welcomed the event.
“I think it sounds lovely,” seamstress Chrissy Graysby said. “The kiddos will love the entertainment and French classes, and I’ll be able to finish that sonnet cycle I’ve been working on this past month. And if some religion gets mixed in, so much better for everyone, so long as they don’t beat us over the head with it or ask for donations.”
Ephesians was frank about his expectations.
“This is something Blacktippers have been clamoring for, whether they know it or not,” he said. “But realistically, we are competing with the island’s bars on the weekend. And karaoke night. We just hope it proves popular. Or, truthfully, that anybody shows up.”
The Blacktip Times 