Dangberg Home Ranch hosts jazz with First Take and Rick Metz

Chautauquas of James Reed, and Alice Walker Hays, along with a jazz concert by First Take featuring Rick Metz, and a presentation by author Paul Franklin, finish out July events during the 2023 Summer Festival at Dangberg Home Ranch Historic Park.

Franklin will give a presentation on his upcoming book “Alexander Parker Crittenden — Nevada Mining Lawyer, Adventurer, Confederate Partisan and Philanderer” 10 a.m. Saturday.

Crittenden was a lawyer, an adventurer, and an early ’49er who travelled by the southern route from Texas through Mexico to San Francisco. With strong Southern sympathies during the Civil War, Crittenden left his successful practice in California avoiding political and loyalty conflicts and migrated to Virginia City where he found the abundance of mining claim disputes a new source of income.

Franklin is a retired executive in the semiconductor industry. A frequent lecturer at Stanford University, much of his time is now focused on Western historical research specializing in the areas of mining and its technology.

This event is free for all to attend.

Donner Party organizer James Reed will be portrayed by David Woodruff 6:30 p.m. July 26.

Wednesday evening Chautauqua ticket prices are $15 for 17 years and older. Youth 16 years and younger are free when accompanied by an adult. Tickets can be purchased at dangberg.eventbrite.com. Members of Friends of Dangberg Home Ranch receive special pricing.

Multiple FORTE award winners for best jazz group, First Take featuring Rick Metz, will perform 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

“The band plays their own unique take on vocal jazz from The Great American Songbook, with selections from Frank Sinatra to Michael Bublé, and the best jazz of the last 100 years,” organizers said.

Concert ticket prices are $20 for 17 years and older. Youth 16 years and younger are free when accompanied by an adult. Tickets can be purchased at dangberg.eventbrite.com.

First woman Mono County School Superintendent, Alice Walker Hays, will be portrayed 10 a.m. July 28 by DebiLynn Smith.

Hays was the first woman in California to be elected to the office in 1876 for Mono County. Hays and her pioneer family’s story are one of true tenacity, perseverance and is set in the remote, wild area of early Mono County.

Smith was born in Bishop and raised in Bridgeport. Smith performed her first Chautauqua at the age of 13 portraying Laura Ingalls Wilder and now portrays several ladies of prominence, including Anna Harris and Dr. Eliza Cook, who were pioneers on the Eastern Slopes of the Sierras. This event is free for all to attend.

“We can hardly believe we are half-way through our summer festival, and we still have so many exciting events left,” said Kim Harris, the park’s events manager.

This season’s Chautauqua programs are all funded in part by a grant from Nevada Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities. For a complete list of upcoming Chautauquas during the Dangberg Summer Festival, visit Dangberg.org.