Dancing Laurel Park community building Northampton
Dancing Laurel Park community building Northampton will host The O-Tones! Laurel Park is a community neighborhood and welcomes The O-Tones to come play for them and the public at their beautiful historic community building. With a great wooden dance floor and old world charm, dancers will delight in the feeling of being transported back in time. Mary Witt (vocals & bass), John Caban (guitar & vocals), Ben Kohn (piano & vocals), and Jason Arnold (drums) will entertain you on the dance floor with Swing, Soul, Blue, Motown and Oldies!
Historic Laurel Park
The camp at Laurel Park was founded in 1872 as a Methodist summer retreat and used as a site for religious camp meetings and other spiritual services. At the same time, it became a site for the popular traveling Chautauqua festivals of the era. The grounds were developed with the ideals of the Chautauqua movement in mind: as a place to gather and create an open air “university of ideas” focused on lifelong learning through nature, music, oration and the arts. This goal was the impetus for building Normal Hall and the Tabernacle, structures whose original purpose was to provide space for teaching and performing.
Throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Laurel Park was known as a gathering place where Pioneer Valley residents could come to be entertained, educated and inspired. Thousands of people came to traveling Chautauqua events on the grounds to hear the best-known speakers and entertainers of the day.