Mount Vernon’s First Lady Helen Zelkowitz
Mount Vernon – What can be said of the Lady with the hats, the one woman dynamo who did more for this community then anyone you can name? In 1951, Zelkowitz became a pioneer and role model for women in communications when she launched Mount Vernon radio station WMVO-FM. Two years later, she started WMVO-AM. In 1971, Zelkowitz participated in the formation of Mount Vernon Cablevision. As the host of her own radio program, "Over the Coffee Cup," she provided an intimate daily portrait of Knox County life for more than forty years. Zelkowitz chaired the boards of WMVO and the Cablevision companies until her family sold them in 1996. An alumna of Ohio State University, she was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1997.

As we present our second to last program in the 7th season of Chautauqua’s, Amy K. Stoner will present a first person presentation as Helen Zelkowitz. Amy did a shortened version of the program at the 2012 Dan Emmett Music & Arts Festival Chautauqua Night and it packed the house. If you missed that performance, see Amy reprise and expand her presentation at ThePlace@TheWoodward (111 S. Main Street, a first floor facility in downtown Mount Vernon) on Thursday November 7th at 7 PM.  Doors open at 6 PM. These programs are presented by your good friends, the members of Elixir and are supported in part by the Ohio Humanities Council, Ariel Foundation and Rolls-Royce Charities/Civic Committee. The cost is donation and as the series organizers like to say, you already have your ticket.

The last program for the 2013 season will be Burl Ives [Dayne Baughman] on November 21. The 2014 season will be unveiled at the Helen Zelkowitz program. Don’t forget to come and enjoy a Chautauqua Concert – FOODSTOCK KNOX COUNTY – at the Memorial Theater on November 26th at 7 PM featuring the Chautauqua Beatles, the Doors, Buddy Holly and the Crickets singing and playing and special appearances by Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez and others. The program is a loving effort to raise money and food for the needy of the community in partnership with Food For The Hungry. For information about the Chautauqua’s and the benefit concert visit www.elixirpresents.com and suggested items to donate for the needy visit www.FoodForTheHungryCares.org.

Master Hi-Storyteller to Speak at Chautauqua Series

MOUNT VERNON - Archeologist, geologist, historian, folklorist, collector, storyteller, writer and "Master of the Temple of Tolerance," James Bowsher will return to the Chautauqua Series  on Thursday October 24, at 7 PM d at ThePlace@TheWoodward (111 S. Main St., Mt. Vernon). 

Bowsher has appeared several times over the span of the Chautauqua Series, now in its 7th season and according to his biography, “His eclectic interests appeared at a very early age. A former teacher was asked what Jim was like in school. She replied, "I don’t know. I never got to see him because he was like a hummingbird." He says that, at age 7, he heard that the oldest Civil War veteran was hospitalized in Toledo (93 road miles from Wapakoneta) and persuaded his father to take him to visit (and make a tape recording now in the Library of Congress). Jim makes his living telling stories to schools, civic clubs, and prisons, usually illustrating his points with artifacts from his extensive collections. He talks with equal ease about Native Americans, the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan, the Holocaust, and the atomic bomb. He says his current task is to set to paper a series of 30 books which he's written in his head. He has no computer or email.”

According to Mike Petee, Chautauqua organizer, “Jim is an amazing speaker and includes objects from wood held be Abraham Lincoln to brass knuckles used by Jesse James, a cup once owned by 10 year old James Earl Ray, a bill of lading for a slave to a piece of the Berlin Wall. Once he starts you can hear a pin drop and when he’s done you can’t believe the time flew by.”

James Bowsher will start his hi-storytelling at 7 PM at ThePlace@TheWoodward, a first floor facility that is accessible to people with special needs, doors open at 6 PM. The series is presented by Elixir on a donation basis with all proceeds going to the speaker and rental and is supported in part by the Ohio Humanities Council, Ariel Foundation and Rolls-Royce Charities/Civic Fund. For more information on this and future programs visit www.elixirpresents.com, www.VisitKnoxOhio.org or call 740-392-3016.

Typhoid Mary to Speak at Chautauqua

Mount Vernon - Mary Mallon, now known as Typhoid Mary, seemed a healthy woman when a health inspector knocked on her door in 1907, yet she was the cause of several typhoid outbreaks. Since Mary was the first "healthy carrier" of typhoid fever in the United States, she did not understand how someone not sick could spread disease. It was only recently in August 2013, that researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine announced they were making breakthroughs in understanding the exact science behind asymptomatic carriers such as Mary. The bacteria that cause typhoid; may hide in macrophages, a type of immune cell.

Trying to present a wide range of different historical persons and topic in the Chautauqua Series, Tammy Souhrada, who presented Lizzie Borden last year, has selected another woman whose reputation has not been fairly treated over the years. Many have heard the name Typhoid Mary but know very little about who she was and why.

On Thursday, October 17, Mary will tell her story at ThePlace@TheWoodward (111 S. Main Street) in downtown Mount Vernon. The theatre will open at 6 PM and the program will start at 7 PM with Elixir playing music for 30 minutes, including a new song in honor of Mary and then at 7:45, Mary [aka Tammy Souhrada] will tell her story and then take questions from the audience. This presentation is provided on a donation basis, with support from the Ohio Humanities Council, Ariel Foundation and Rolls-Royce Civics/Charities Fund. For more information on this program and other upcoming shows, visit www.elixirpresents.com or www.VisitKnoxOhio.org or call 740-392-6102.

Trinity United Methodist Church Mount Gilead, Ohio hosts at fundraiser featuring:

Fri. Oct 11 at 7 pm: Jonathan Winters, Katherine Hepburn, Paul Lynde, and Red Skelton.

Sat. Oct. 12 at 7 pm: The Chautauqua Beatles!

Adults $10 / Students $8