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CHAUTAUQUA-- Chautauqua Institution doesn't slow down as the season winds down.
Although the last week of the season often has somewhat fewer visitors than earlier weeks, the place bustles with as much energy as ever.
Morning-amphitheater programs bring out the crowds, as do afternoon events and evening performances.
If you haven't been to Chautauqua this season, and even if you have, consider going this Sunday. There's no charge for a gate pass on Sundays. And parking, which in earlier years was free until 2 p.m. on Sundays, is now free until 5 p.m. on Sundays.
Since the institution has extended the free parking until 5 p.m. on Sundays, it would do well to consider extending it in future years through Sunday evenings as well.
That would encourage attendance at the Sunday-evening worship service, which begins at 8:00. This coming Sunday, the Sunday-evening worship service features the annual remembrance of those who have died, according to the institution.
If you've never attended the Sunday-evening worship service on that occasion, you should consider going this Sunday. If you go, you'll see why.
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Apart from Sunday events, the Advocates for Balance at Chautauqua, or ABC, programs have continued throughout the season.
If you were there on Aug. 17, you saw Benjamin Franklin, the 18th century Pennsylvanian played by actor, writer, director, and constitutional scholar Bryan Austin.
Austin, speaking as Franklin and wearing Franklin attire, brings history to life with his energetic, enthusiastic, and engaging presence.
At Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, Austin plays James Madison, once a state legislator, once a member of Congress, once secretary of state, and the fourth president of the United States.
If you survey the audience while Austin speaks as Franklin, you won't see audience members checking their watches. That's how well Austin as Franklin holds their attention. And no one leaves early.
He's so good that it's easy for audience members to forget momentarily that he's not really Franklin. He comes off like the real thing.
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ABC audience members heard this week that ABC supporters, which numbered 971 at the beginning of the 2026 season, now number 1250. That's more than a 25 percent increase in a single season.
Which isn't surprising, given (1) ABC's mission and (2) the quality of ABC speakers' presentations during 2026. Each has been outstanding.
Plus, ABC has astutely promoted each 2026 speaker program by buying a same-day ad across the bottom of page one of the Chautauqua Daily.
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Looking ahead to 2027, you, faithful reader of this column, will recall that Austin spoke to ABC as Madison in 2021, while Bill Barker spoke to ABC as Thomas Jefferson in 2022.
The pair will return to ABC together as Madison and Jefferson during the first week of Chautauqua's 2027 season, ABC audience members heard this week. Also returning to ABC in 2027 is George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who spoke to ABC in 2026, and who is one of many past ABC speakers whom the institution would do well to consider inviting to give a morning-amphitheater lecture.
The first week of the 2027 season will be the first one in which ABC has had two programs with speakers in a single week.
The institution is devoting that week to the U.S. Constitution in celebration of the 240th anniversary of its drafting, to a substantial extent by Madison.
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On its website, https://www.abcatchq.com, ABC posts videos of most of its speakers.
ABC was formed in 2018. Its mission is "to achieve a balance of speakers in a mutually civil and respectful environment consistent with the historic mission of Chautauqua" Institution. ABC is its own Section 501(c)(3) organization, legally separate from the institution.
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Dr. Randy Elf's Aug. 20, 2020, ABC presentation, on "How Political Speech Law Benefits Politicians and the Rich," is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ebymA7xOo. It's cited in his U.S. Supreme Court brief filed Aug. 7: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6556879.
COPYRIGHT © 2026 BY RANDY ELF