chautauqua

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The Word of the Day for May 7 is:

chautauqua   \shuh-TAW-kwuh\   noun
      : any of various traveling shows and local assemblies that flourished in 
the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that provided 
popular education combined with entertainment in the form of lectures, 
concerts, and plays, and that were modeled after activities at the Chautauqua 
Institution of western New York

Example sentence:
      As a boy, Grandpa attended a lecture given by famed humorist Will Rogers 
during a summer chautauqua.

Did you know?
      The chautauqua has been aptly described as "a cross between a folk-life 
festival and a community college." The original Chautauqua was started just 
after the Civil War at Chautauqua Lake in New York state as an assembly for 
training church workers. Before long the program was broadened to include 
lectures on a wide variety of subjects, as well as entertainment. The event 
proved so successful that it spawned other chautauquas throughout the United 
States, each offering a mix of education, entertainment, and on occasion, even 
religion. The chautauquas are now largely a colorful fragment of American 
history, but the original institution at Chautauqua continues to offer an 
annual program of performances and lectures.