BOTTINEAU The Bottineau community will celebrate the birthday of explorer Pierre Bottineau July 26 and the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln July 27-29 with the 2009 Everett Albers Chautauqua Celebration.

Clint Reinoehl, director of the Greater Bottineau Area Chamber of Commerce, said the celebration of Bottineau's namesake will be quieter this year than last year, but it will still include a community potluck, music by Frozen Fingers and an ice cream social at the Bottineau County Historical Museum. The celebration will be held July 26 from 1 to 5 p.m. at the museum.

The community has also been holding a series of readings of books in a lead-up to the Chautauqua. The final book discussion, led by Minot State University-Bottineau professor Steve Sathre, will be on "Abraham Lincoln," by James M. McPherson. Sathre, of the history and social science department, will be examining whether Lincoln was the only man who could have accomplished what he did at the time or whether there were other people living at the time who could also have accomplished it. The discussion of the book will be Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Bottineau Tech Center on Main Street.

Gary Albrightson and Mike Porter, both of MSU-Bottineau's English Department, previously led book discussions in advance of the Chautauqua about works by Frederick Douglass and Walt Whitman.

"We have had really good discussions," said Porter. He and Albrightson said more than 20 people have showed up at the discussions and seem interested and well-prepared.

The books are on sale in town and the book discussions have been held in advance of the Chautauqua and are fairly inexpensive, he said.

MSU-Bottineau held regular discussions and presentations on Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" last year during its campus read. This year it will again hold a campus read, with a book by North Dakota author Debra Marquart. Marquart's "The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere" is a story about growing up in Napoleon. Porter and Albrightson said they hope to persuade Marquart to speak to students on campus at some point during the school year. Regular book discussions will also be held.

The Chautauqua will include presentations and entertainment, with evening programs held at Bottineau High School and daytime programs at Minot State University-Bottineau.

The summer book discussions have been similarly successful.

Chautauqua

Chautauqua events are scheduled in Bottineau July 27-29, including a dedication of the Lincoln Garden at the MSU-Bottineau Greenhouse, musical entertainment, programs on President Abraham Lincoln's writings, Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman and the Homestead Act, touching on Lincoln's historical influence on North Dakota.

Chautauqua scholars George Frein, Carroll D. Peterson, Jerome Tweton and Charles Everett Pace will present readings, poems, programs and workshops over the three-day event.

Books and articles by Lincoln, Douglass, Whitman, Tweton, Frein, Pace and Peterson will be available for purchase at the MSU-Bottineau Lincoln garden. There will also be merchant window displays, Lincoln penny sales, Lincoln baked goods, museum displays and Chautauqua information and booths in Bottineau during the three-day celebration.

The event is sponsored by MSU-Bottineau and Bottineau Community Theatre.