By Karen Middleton
Five of the country’s leading storytellers will appear at the First Annual Spirit of Athens Storytelling Festival the last weekend of October.
According to organizer Wayne Kuykendall, the lineup will include: Donald Davis, North Carolina; Andy Offut Irwin, Atlanta; Carmen Deedy, Decatur, Ga.; Bil Lepp, West Virginia, and Kathryn Windham, Selma.
“These are some of the nation’s best,” said Kuykendall. “They will be doing two performances Friday and two performances Saturday. There are no repeats of any stories.”
Organizers will set up a tent to seat 1,500 on Marion Street.
All storytellers, except Windham will arrive early for special storytelling sessions Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 24 and 25, for all school children in grades 4 through 8 in city and county schools, plus private and home-schooled students.
Group Dekko Foundation is underwriting the cost of students’ tickets.
On Thursday night, Windham will appear at McCandless Auditorium of Athens State University to discuss her life as a storyteller.
Tickets are $30 for the entire Oct. 26-27 weekend, and for a single-day ticket it will be $20. A special ghost storytelling will be at Big Spring Park Friday night, which will cost $5 per ticket.
Elizabeth McDowell, who is coordinating volunteers for the event, said creating the calico cloth tickets for the event has become a community effort. Volunteer Genoa Perry cut two bolts of calico into strips on her kitchen table.
Volunteers Nelvea Reed and Annie Bell Clem will cut the strips into 2-inch squares. Roy Patton’s Boy Scout troop will affix the squares with safety pins. Those buying individual day tickets get one color of square to pin on and those buying weekend tickets get another color.
McDowell said the volunteers are making some 5,000 tickets.
Charter Communications is the corporate sponsor for the event.
For more information, visit www.AthensStorytellingFestival.com.
