Monte Rio Variety Show

The Monte Rio Community Variety Show began in 1911 as a way for Bohemian Club members camping at the Bohemian Grove to share their talents and love for the Russian River communities and to raise money for local causes. The Bohemians originally performed at St. Catherine Church and today the annual event is held on the banks of the Russian River at the beautiful Monte Rio Amphitheater. The event is organized by Community volunteers, who also sell the tickets and refreshments. The Bohemians contribute their best performers, many of them stars of stage and screen, to entertain and make possible this very important local fundraising event. It is a world class show, performed in the town of Monte Rio, population 1,104, in the heart of the California Vacation Wonderland.

Last year the event sold over 2,200 tickets and contributed over $45,000 to local charities.

The Bohemian Grove

The Bohemian Club of San Francisco was founded in 1872 by a group of men dedicated to the enjoyment of art, music, literature and drama. To escape the cares of the City, they started holding an annual retreat along the Russian River in 1878. In 1901 the club purchased its first parcel of what today is the Grove. It has often been said by local residents that the acquisition of the Grove lands by the club saved the area from being over-encroached by real estate development.

The preservation of the 2,700 acre Grove makes possible the club’s annual encampment during the last two weeks of July. Each summer a large percentage of the club’s 2,500 members come together for a midsummer program of performing arts and other artistic events and entertainment, all planned and staged by the members themselves.

The July encampment encompasses more than 100 entertainment events produced and performed by club members. The activities include concerts by the club’s symphony orchestra, concert band, jazz orchestra and chorus. There are numerous dramatic and musical plays, and other theatrical performances, including recitals, readings, lectures, and art exhibits. The centerpieces of the encampment are three major musical-theater productions. The first weekend starts with “The Cremation of Care,” a traditional musical drama celebrating nature, summertime, and members’ escape from the cares of the City. “The Low Jinks” is an original musical comedy. The last weekend concludes with the “Grove Play” an original operatic play of more serious intent. These are all written, directed, produced, and performed by club members, with each taking more than two years of preparation.

The club’s motto is “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here,” meaning it is bad form to talk business.

Protecting the Forest and Creating Opportunities

The Grove’s physical facilities are administrated by a volunteer group of club members and managed and maintained by a year-round, professional Grovekeeper. There is a permanent year-round staff of foresters and maintenance specialists.

The club’s ongoing forest management program, continually monitored and upgraded, protects and enhances the Grove timberlands. Bohemians revere the Redwood trees and have applied for their own timber management program to protect and preserve the forest from devastating wildfires.

The Bohemian Grove prides itself on being a good neighbor to the surrounding towns and people of Sonoma County. The Grove hires more than 1,000 workers from the surrounding community, providing summer jobs, experience and good wages for local residents and youths.

Membership in the Bohemian Club

The Bohemian Club is an organization instituted, according to its constitution, “for the association of gentlemen connected professionally with Literature, Art, Music and Drama and also those who, by reason of their love or appreciation of these objects and interest in participating in club activities, may be deemed eligible.” While its membership has always included many outstanding professionals in the arts, most of its members are professional and academic people with artistic avocations, for whom the club affords an opportunity for expression and supportiveness. The club, in short, is participative and avocational in nature and purpose, with its focus on the fine and performing arts and belles-lettres.

The club has no membership restrictions as to race, religion, national ancestry, sexual preference, or physical handicap. Its only restriction as to age is that member must be 21 or older. The club’s 2,500 members are men of virtually all faiths, greatly varying financial means, and ancestries stemming from the six continents of the world.

For more information please contact us at Email info@monterioshow.org.