Chautauqua Park

Opened in the late 19th century, the park was a stop on the nationwide Chautauqua circuit, which promoted religious and evangelical programs as well as musical shows. Located between Miamisburg and Franklin on the Great Miami River, it became a home for bluegrass and country shows when Steve Lake began promoting shows in the open-air auditorium in the late 1960s. The first annual Chautauqua Bluegrass Festival on September 10, 1967 (one of the earliest in the nation, and the first in Ohio), headlined Ralph Stanley with Larry Sparks singing lead, Bill Monroe, the Osborne Brothers, Don Reno and Bill Harrell, Jim McCall and Earl Taylor, Moon Mullins and the Valley Ramblers, the Moore Brothers, and the Cornhuskers.

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