With its historic summer “cottages” that have been creatively transformed into year-round houses, the residential community of Laurel Park in Northampton is lovely any time of year. But in the fall, when its trees are ablaze with autumn color, it’s particularly enchanting.
On Oct. 13 and 14, Laurel Park, which has a long tradition of cultural “Chautauqua” festivals, will host a Celebration of Trees featuring poetry and storytelling, art, dance, food, nature walks and a panel discussion of tree conservation, preservation and forest health.
Sandra Matthews, co-chair of Laurel Park Arts, hopes this year’s festival will have an “Open University” atmosphere. The panel discussion will include members of Kestrel Land Trust and Broad Brook Coalition. “We’re happy to connect with other nonprofit environmental groups,” said Matthews. “We want to bring scientists, artists, activists and anyone who loves trees together to partake of our special atmosphere and to meet each other. It’s an opportunity for people to more deeply explore and connect with important issues.”
Laurel Park’s Celebration of Trees has deep roots in the history of the community. The festival looks backward and forward, combining the community’s reverence for the natural world with concern about the future health of our natural environment. “The camp meeting history of Laurel Park and its wooded setting are at the center of what this place is about,” said Matthews. “Being in nature is the reason most of Laurel Park’s residents choose to live here.”
Next year, Laurel Park plans to host a lecture series related to the environment. “These are crucial issues,” said Matthews. “We want to bring people together to talk about them.”
Laurel Park originated in the late 1800s as a Methodist camp meeting. These meetings were created as rural summer retreats where worshippers could pray and unwind from the stress of life in a rapidly changing world. While visitors to Laurel Park spent some of their time singing and praying, they were also encouraged to seek respite and recreation in nature. Many campers walked the trails in the adjoining Nine-Acre Woods through stands of mature trees and majestic outcroppings of stone.
Laurel Park’s founding dovetailed with the rise of Chautauqua festivals, events that promoted sacred and secular education by bringing famous speakers and cultural figures to appear at different sites around the country. Laurel Park held its first Chautauqua festival in 1872 and continued to host these popular festivals until the 1930s, when their offerings were upstaged by more modern entertainments, including movies. In the 1980s, Laurel Park revived the Chautauqua tradition, hosting annual weekends filled with art, music, dance, literature and a celebration of the natural world.
This year’s two-day festival will open Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. with a sharing of poems, stories and s’mores at the Laurel Park Friendship Fireplace. Thenext day’s activities will begin at 10 a.m. with a guided walk through the Nine-Acre Woods with naturalist Ted Watt of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment. There will be morning and afternoon children’s activities led by dancer Laura Pravitz, co-chair of Laurel Park Arts. A lunch of soup, bread and apple pie will be accompanied by ragtime piano music played by Dick Moulding. The festival also will include a talk about New England apples and exhibitions of sculpture, prints, collages and photography.
Also on view in the Nine-Acre Woods is the natural sculpture park created by Gary Orlinsky, Laurel Park’s 2016 Artist-in-Residence. The installation consists of intriguing combinations of natural materials — leaves, roots, trees and rocks — with unexpected man-made objects that surprise and delight the passersby.
For more information, go to: laurelparkarts.org or email smatthews@hampshire.edu.
Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge will have an exhibition of paintings and photographs at its new Anna and Frederick Henry Leonhardt Galleries. Three regional artists who take inspiration from nature will be featured: painter and printmaker Susan Merrill and photographers Jane McWhorter and John MacGruer.
The opening reception will take place Friday, 5 to 7 p.m. at Center House. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. during Harvest Weekend, Saturday and Sunday.
Starting Oct. 13, gallery hours are Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and weekdays by appointment. The exhibition runs through Nov. 24.
Columbus Day Weekend at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston will feature the delights of the garden, with plenty of family-friendly activities, Saturday through Monday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The public is invited to enter produce in competitions, make and race their own vegetable cars and explore Tower Hill’s late-season garden.
There will be live music, food tastings, chef demos and many other entertainments and exhibits. Food trucks – Say Cheese on Saturday, and Dogfather on Sunday and Monday — will be there. On Monday, kids are encouraged to wear vegetable costumes. Free with admission to Tower Hill. Go to towerhillbg.org for more information.
On Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., Jones Library in Amherst is hosting an evening celebrating local farms. Creative Feast chef Liz Barbour will explore the modern journey back to the farm with a discussion about the benefits of buying local and eating seasonal foods. There will be a cooking demonstration featuring locally harvested ingredients and a chance to sample the results. Space is limited. Call 259-3096 to register.
Hitchcock Center for the Environment, 845 West St., Amherst is hosting its Second Saturday Science Series for kids and families Oct. 14, from 10 to 11 a.m. The program will be “Slime Time” during which participants will learn about how different animals and plants benefit from slime. They also will make their own slime to play with, including Ooblek and flubber. For more information, go to hitchcockcenter.org.
Registration is appreciated. For groups of 6 or more, call ahead.
Mickey Rathbun can be reached at foxglover8@gmail.com.