This 100-acre park in the heart of Ashland, Oregon was designed by John McLaren in 1914-15, who also designed San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, where we performed at the beginning of this concert season. McLaren transformed the little valley around the creek into a romantic park in the style of Frederick Law Olmsted, whose 200th anniversary we are celebrating this year! The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made extensive improvements to Lithia Park in the 1930’s for people to enjoy as they wandered from the concert bandshell along the singing Lithia Creek. Hunter performed selections from Robert Schumann’s Papillons or “Butterflies” because Vladimir Nabokov finished his book “Lolita” in Ashland while butterfly hunting with his wife the summer of 1953. Photos by @arthurhitchcock . . . . . . . #hunternoack #inalandscape #olmsted200 #johnmclaren #goldengatepark #vladimirnabokov #lolita #papillons #schumann #lithiapark #lithiasprings #lithiaparkashland