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!