Athens, Alabama

 Trish and I have just come from a wonderful week as I told for the eighteenth year at the Athens, Alabama, Storytelling Festival.

The lineup of tellers this year was spectacular. I was joined by Carol Cain in the school days and by Josh Goforth, Michael Reno Harrell, Tim Lowry, and Rev. Robert Jones for the full festival.

On Monday I had a dinner with area teachers followed by a workshop with them. 

Tuesday through Thursday we told to more than 5,000 students from grades three through high school. They were a marvelous audience! When they come every year, they grow in an amazing way!

The full festival followed all day Friday and Saturday.

This festival has a strong student component. On Tuesday evening we had fourteen student tellers for an evening for everyone. Then, throughout the week, there were students who told mixed with the featured tellers. The student audiences loved hearing from their peers and were wonderfully supportive of them.

An extra plus was having Michael Reno Harrell and Josh Goforth here at the same time. In addition to their individual sets, on occasion they combined their time and performed together. This was a special treat that the audience loved.

This is a lovely festival in Athens, Alabama. You should plan to come sometime on the fourth weekend of October each year on the campus of Athens State.

Storytellers Giving Back

 On Saturday evening a group of us gathered for the first event held in the newly restored Jackson Theatre in Jonesborough, Tennessee.  The purpose of our gathering was to hold a Hurricane relief benefit on what would have been the Saturday evening of the storm cancelled National Storytelling Festival.

The show was preceded by music by the Jonesborough Novelty Band.  When we arrived for our sound check at 5:30, there was already a very long line waiting for the 7:00 pm show.  When the doors opened later, we had a totally full house.

Barbara McBride-Smith, who now lives in Jonesborough, was our emcee.  She did a wonderful job throughout the evening, beginning with presenting Bil Lepp as our opening storyteller.

All of the stories were both entertaining and poignant, focusing on the reason we were there. Hurricane Helene wrought disaster a week earlier and we were determined to make a difference.

After telling separately, Andy Offutt Erwin and Paul Strickland played together.

Sheila Arnold and I finished off the telling.

To close the evening, all the tellers came on state and joined Ed Stivender in his classic storytelling hymn, “Yankee Come Home.”

When the offering buckets were call counted up, we brought in $12,021 on sight and $14,020 came in on line during the show for a total of  $26,041 for direct hurricane relief.

Thanks goes to all of you who supported this event.  It was an honor to work with these fine people in this effort!

Saturday Benefit

 Several of us will be present a benefit concert for Hurricane Helene aid this Saturday evening at 7:00 pm.  

The event will be held in Jonesborough, Tennessee, at the newly restored Jackson Theatre on Main Street.

Barbara McBride-Smith will be the MC and I will be joined by Bil Lepp, Shiela Arnold, Andy Offutt Erwin, and Paul Strickland.  

There will be no admission charge, just donations.  The donations go to the Jonesborough Community Chest which is coordinating relief aid to Washington and Unicoi Counties.

Go to any of our Facebook pages for all the details.

The event will be streamed and online contributions can be made.

We hope to see you live or virtually!

National Festival Update

 Because the Town of Jonesborough and the surrounding region are highly dependent on income from the National Festival weekend, every effort was made to find a way to have the Festival following the destruction of Hurricane Helene.  However, other facts have made this impossible.

Washington County (Jonesborough) and surrounding counties have now been officially declared a Federal Disaster Area.  This means that all resources, including hotel rooms, rental cars, emergency officials, sheriff’s personnel, and others are prioritized directly for the recovery of those who have lost homes and other resources.

It is not possible to envisage going forward with the Festival in this climate of need and recovery.  This is a sad and costly decision and will take a lot of recovery in itself.

I am already in town and will still be the Teller in Residence this week.  We are working at using this program as a way to contribute to storm recovery and more information about this will come later.

Please remain aware of the work being done here and continue your prayers and efforts to contribute help.  We will continue to update plans.

Helene

 Trish and I came on to Jonesborough, Tennessee, on Thursday and got ahead of the Hurricane.  If we had not come, we would not be able to get here. Both I26 and I40 are closed between here and North Carolina. Power is back on here and water is also working. 

We hope that you are safe where you are.  Hold fast, offer prayers and concrete help, and, we will all be working to move forward through this hard time.  People are amazingly resilient creatures!

Quick Trip Home

 From the Grand Canyon we drove to Mountain City, Tennessee, where I had a performance at Heritage Hall on Saturday, then we drove home on Sunday for three days. It is time to collect mail, pay bills, do laundry, and repack for the National Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. 

When we got out of the car and walked around the house, we were met with a surprise.  Another one of our banana plants was in bloom! 

We now have two bunches of bananas maturing side by side!

The first bunch is fattening up and we are watching then carefully.

Also, when we were back in the Tetons, Trish had admired some moose antlers and said she would like some.  I found an Alaska pair on eBay and couldn’t resist.  Now she has to figure out what to do with them!

Now we are repacked and on our way to Jonesborough.  We are going a bit early so I can practice with the Novelty Band and get ready for my time as Teller in Residence next week.  It is all fun!

Special Sights at the Canyon

 Of course, the gigantic view of the Grand Canyon itself grabs our eyes over and over again as we look out from our hotel.

But, there are many things to notice apart from the gigantic canyon vistas.  Here is a blooming Kaibab Agave, sometimes called a Century Plant, we saw blooming near Mather Point. Also known as a Yant, this plant is the most hardy of the agave family and it grows as well in totally arid conditions.  This was a big one!

While we usually look out from out hotel building, when we walk for some distance along the rim trail, we can look back and there is the El Tovar perched on our usual edge.

Then…while knowing that wildlife was all about us, we saw mostly chipmunks and squirrels until we came upon a big harem of female elk. Since it is mating season, we knew their male must be nearby. Sure enough, here he is, just watching his herd!

Then, back at the hotel for our last night, we take one more look and see the canyon painted with the shadows of dusk.  A beautiful last vision of a wonderful visit.