Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua (sha-ta-qwa) is a year round non profit performing arts organization with a rich history. We operate an intimate 950-seat, all-canvas, state-of-the-art tent theater, producing and presenting a fifty-plus night summer season of concerts, plays, lectures, and a highly acclaimed professional local troupe which performs original multi-media musicals in the tent and on tour. Tent Show Radio, a weekly one hour program which showcases live performances from the Big Top stage, is aired on public radio stations throughout the country.

The summer schedule includes performances by renowned national, regional and touring musicians and runs from mid June to early September. Recent touring performers have included BB King, Greg Brown, Yonder Mountain String Band, Keb' Mo', Willie Nelson, and Garrison Keillor. On balmy summer nights the tent sidewalls can be lifted and people may sit outside and even up on the hillside. The sound is superb and on clear nights you can see the Milky Way and sometimes the Northern Lights!
Under the "Little Top" tent Ashwabay serves up food and beverage, with the Ashwabay Grill and the T-Bar.