Vance County Storytelling Festival

       Tuesday, April 23, 2013 was an exciting day as 12 storytellers gathered in Henderson, NC for the Vance County 17th Annual Storytelling Festival at the Perry Memorial Library.  During the course of the day fourth grade students arrived from around the county to enjoy a feast of folktales dished out by these storytellers.  The festival concluded with an evening family story concert, filled with energy and audience participation. 
        I was invited as one of those storytellers.  My alarm was set for 4:30am.  Ordinarily, I’m not conscious at that time of morning.  But if I wanted to arrive in time for the first session at 9:30am, I had to get going.  After a fun filled and gratifying day I returned home at 11:30pm.  I was so tired and sleepy I felt as though I was on a drunk.  I’ve read this is what happens to our bodies when we are facing sleep deprivation.  I crashed into bed and slept most of the next morning.  Crazy you say?  No, it was a fun, worthwhile kind of ‘tired’ and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!  
        Sadly, within the past several years I‘ve witnessed a number of storytelling festivals fall by the wayside in my area of the country.  After talking with organizers of the Vance County festival, I wonder, is the declining number of festivals due to a lack of funds during a time of recession, or is it simply due to lack of strong community interest, leadership, conviction and support?
        I applaud the Perry Memorial Library for their strong leadership, conviction and dedication to preserve the ancient art of storytelling.  This would not be possible without help from their local community.   They are able to do this with help from local organizations.  The Vance County Arts Council and the Friends of Perry Memorial Library gave their generous support, in addition to the NC Arts Council.  It’s all a part of literacy and historical preservation.      

       It was a great honor for me to participate in this event.

What a Week for Storytelling!

Wow! Last week followed by this past weekend was filled with interesting storytelling adventure. April 21st was the day I had set aside to review my plans for a program I was scheduled to present in Jamestown, NC the following evening. Instead,I spent most of the morning away from home. I received a call from the Hickory Daily Record wanting to have an interview with me on this day. They were planning to write an article about a local storytelling festival in my area and wanted to interview one of the storytellers. Guess I got lucky, so of course, I said, "Yes."

It was, after all, fun talking about my "love of storytelling." We talked for over an hour. The article hasn't yet appeared and who knows what will actually end up in the newspaper. I was a bit nervous because the gracious reporter also wanted to video a short story. It's somewhat difficult for me to tell a story without having an audience in front of me, as the audience pulls on my adrenalin and helps to activate my animation.

The following evening I made my trip over to Jamestown and had a great time sharing my program; We Have Stories to Tell: Family and Personal Stories. I always look forward to hearing audience members talk about their stories; or the fact that they never realized that they were sharing stories as they interact with family, friends or co-workers. This sort of information always surfaces as my program comes to the discussion session. And often, little tidbits of wisdom and stories are shared after our discussion is "officially" over.

This past weekend (April 26-27th) was especially exciting. I spent the weekend at the Storytelling Festival of Carolina in Laurinburg, NC. This festival is in its second year and was well attended. Excitement was everywhere. Many folks came from out of town. I ran into friends from other parts of the state and even from South Carolina and Virginia. I had the occasion to serve as an Emcee. What an honor to introduce nationally traveled performers as well as regional tellers. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect audience! Even a falling tree and a downpour of hard rain couldn't have put a "damper" on the excitement of the listeners and participants!

Remember that each of us is filled with a treasure trunk of stories.