08/21/2026
Ever wonder what it takes to put on Chautauqua in the Park 2026 ?
These pictures might give you a little peek behind the curtain.
Before a single booth goes up in Simpson Park, there are hundreds of emails, plenty of phone calls, spreadsheets on spreadsheets, vendor applications, booth assignments, maps, schedules, paperwork, and a LOT of double-checking. And then maybe checking it one more time… just to be safe.
That giant board of Simpson Park? That’s how we work through assigning all of our vendor spaces. Those 11x17 sheets covered from top to bottom? Believe it or not, we actually know what most of that means. And the three computer screens? At this point, we’re not sure how we ever survived with just one.
A tremendous amount of work happens behind the scenes in the months leading up to Chautauqua. With two full-time Chamber staff members, along with some much-appreciated part-time help, we spend months making sure all of those little pieces come together.
And the truth is, we love what we do. We love getting to help bring this event to our community year after year, and we’d love for you to help us spread that love!
Because Chautauqua has never been a two- or three-person event—and we wouldn’t want it to be!
Once Chautauqua weekend arrives, it takes our community of volunteers to turn all of those emails, spreadsheets, maps and plans into the event we all know and love.
That’s where YOU come in!
We need extra hands at the event to help everything run smoothly throughout the weekend. Whether you can give us a couple of hours or more, every volunteer makes a difference.
And if you’ve never volunteered at Chautauqua before, don’t let that scare you! We have some seasoned Chautauqua professionals on our committee who know this event like the back of their hand and will be there to walk you through the process. Whether this is your first year volunteering or your fifth, we’ll make sure you know where to go, what to do and who to ask if you need help.
And don’t worry—you don’t have to understand the scary spreadsheets or figure out the booth board. We promise.
Sign up to volunteer here:
https://signup.com/go/sdQGSEU
We are incredibly thankful for the community members who step up each year to help make Chautauqua happen. We’ll handle the emails, phone calls, spreadsheets and planning beforehand—we just need some extra hands to help us bring it all to life on event weekend!
We love Chautauqua, we love being a part of it, and we’d love to have you be a part of it too.
📅 September 12 & 13, 2026
📍 Simpson Park | Chillicothe, MO
