Late October event to bring crowds to the Square and the town
ATHENS – The Limestone County Courthouse square is decorated in fall finery in anticipation of the Athens Storytelling Festival to be held this year on Thursday, October 23 through Saturday, October 25. This year, the 2nd annual Local Storytellers Competition will be held on Tuesday, October 21. This is a great opportunity to hear some tall tales from some familiar faces in the community.
Athens is proud to offer this opportunity to participate in Storytelling – the oldest form of entertainment. Hear marvelous yarns by renowned storytelling masters:
Donald Davis who was born in a Southern Appalachian mountain world rich in stories. “I didn’t learn stories, I just absorbed them,” he says as he recounts tales and more tales learned from a family of traditional storytellers who have lived on the same Western North Carolina land since 1781. Davis grew up hearing gentle fairy tales, simple and silly Jack tales, scary mountain lore, ancient Welsh and Scottish folktales, and-most importantly-nourishing true-to-life stories of his own neighbors and kin.
Carmen Deedy who has entertained thousands of children and adults alike in her ultra-energetic and charming style. Deedy has recounted her tales of growing up Cuban in Decatur, Georgia for over a decade. Her performances of the humorous and poignant of familial living ring a familiar tone in the ear while retaining a unique quality of her individual upbringing.
The Dill Pickers began as a group of individual musicians brought together by their mutual casting in a local Birmingham company’s performance of the off-Broadway musical Snow on the Mountain. They gained state-wide renowned for their yearly performances and grew into a band of storytelling, instrument wielding performers whose popularity transcended the Birmingham stage to bring about the touring and talented group of tale-tellers they are today.
Andy Offutt Irwin is an entertainer in the best sense of the word, Andy is a storyteller, humorist, singer, songwriter, musician, whistler, walking menagerie of sound effects and character voices, and so much more; some of his talents are hard to categorize. In storytelling circles, he is especially known for relating the adventures of his eighty-five-year-old-widowed-newly-minted-physician-aunt, Marguerite Van Camp, a woman who avoids curmudgeonship by keeping her finger on the pulse of… well herself, but also the changing world around her. She steps lively through it, loving as many people as she can.
Kevin Kling, best known for his popular commentaries on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and his storytelling stage shows like Tales from the Charred Underbelly of the Yule Log, delivers hilarious, often tender stories. Kling’s autobiographical tales are as enchanting as they are true to life: hopping freight trains, getting hit by lightning, performing his banned play in Czechoslovakia, growing up in Minnesota, and eating things before knowing what they are. Kling was born with a congenital birth defect — his left arm is about three-quarters the size of his right arm, and his left hand has no wrist or thumb. More than five years ago, Kling was in a motorcycle accident. The brachial plexus nerves in his right arm were pulled completely out of their sockets. Currently, he has partial use of his left arm and cannot use his right arm at all.
Bil Lepp tells original, hilarious tales that will bring a smile to the face of even the most ill-humored person around. Bil is the author of three books of tales, four audio collections, and he has had stories published in several national magazines. Bil has been a featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival several times, and at The Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
John McCutcheon is America’s balladeer. His songs sing of the nation’s heritage. His words channel the conscience of our people into streams of poetry and melody. He writes about subjects small and great, from a child’s haircut to freedom and human dignity – issues equally eternal and enduring. Think of McCutcheon as an incarnation of Pete Seeger and Mr. Rogers, Will Rogers and Bruce Springsteen, and above all Everyman, righteously passionate and impishly playful.
Stories will be told in the big tent on Marion Street, between Market and Washington, within close proximity to an eclectic mix of downtown restaurants and shops offering a wide variety of antiques, gifts, gourmet foods, clothing and hardware. On Friday, October 24 the tall tales start at 9:00 a.m. and run through 9:40 p.m. that night. Saturday’s stories start at 9:00 a.m. and run until 9:40 p.m. There are lunch and dinner breaks both days, but attendees are encouraged to come and go at their leisure.
Thursday evening October 23 at 7:15 p.m. promises to be a grand night of pickin’, grinnin’ and laughing as the Dill Pickers officially kick-off festival weekend. We’ll also welcome back the winner of our 2nd Annual Local Tellers Competition to tell his/her stories to the Thursday night crowd.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the tent will be open to participating city and county schools, grades 3 through 12 so that the art of Storytelling can be experienced by the next generation of great tellers.
Storytelling is traditional, creative, educational, cultural, personal, and therapeutic. The stories told will seem spontaneous, but not without hours of coaching and practice-the storytellers will captivate their audience by using eye contact, their voices, movement, and expressions to bring their stories to life in the listeners’ minds and hearts.
In addition to traditional day and weekend tickets, half-day tickets and children’s tickets will be available. You may purchase tickets online at www.athensstorytellingfestival.com or at the Center for Lifelong Learning at 121 S. Marion Street on the east side of the Limestone County Courthouse Square.
MEDIA RELEASE/ATHENS STATE UNIVERSITY/GUY MCCLURE, DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS
