(Scopes Festival)

The Scopes Festival returns this weekend to Dayton, Tennessee.

The annual gathering commemorates the July 1925 trial in Dayton of John Scopes, a high school teacher accused of violating a Tennessee law that barred the teaching of evolution in public schools.

 

The trial at the Rhea County Courthouse drew national attention - and lured national names of the time to Dayton:  William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow and H.L. Mencken.

Last year, the Scopes Festival - which in the past featured a play reenacting the trial in the same courtroom where the actual trial took place - was canceled due to the pandemic.

This year’s festival - on Saturday in Dayton - will present a new play in that courtroom:  “How It Started.”

 

Rick Dye has been involved with the Festival for some 26 years - and this will be his eighth year portraying Clarence Darrow.