Stories at the River's Edge Begins Friday

It's coming! Storytelling all up and down the Ohio River! This is the third year for the storytelling series that my storytelling friend Donna Wilson and I coordinate. Here is the press release for the programs. Check the schedule and come see us when we're near your home.



Stories at the River’s Edge is a series of storytelling programs presented along the Ohio River in community centers, museums, libraries, theatres and parks.

The series brings together professional storytellers from both sides of the river to tell stories of all kinds, from family stories to traditional folktales. The goal of Stories at the Rivers Edge is to provide residents of river communities an opportunity to experience the traditional art of oral storytelling.

In the past, Appalachian people told tales as part of everyday life. From the adventures of Jack to the plaintive mountain ballads, sly tall tales, spooky ghost stories and legends, storytelling was part of the fabric of life. Over time, storytelling died out as television and other popular entertainment took its place.

Today, however, audiences everywhere are discovering the pleasure of a tale well told and the value of using imagination to create images and characters as vivid as those on a screen. Storytelling is entertaining for all ages, backgrounds and interests.

Come join us this summer for a relaxing program in your community.

Program Schedule for Stories at the River’s Edge 2010

July 2: Granny Sue
Ripley Public Library. Ripley, WV 10:00 am
Ravenswood Library, Ravenswood, WV 1:00pm.
Call 304-372-5343 for details

July 7: Suzi Whaples
Syracuse Community Ctr, Syracuse, OH 10 am Mason Municipal Park, Mason WV 2pm
Call 740-992-7830 for more information.

July 7: Keith Maynard
Point Pleasant River Museum Pt. Pleasant, WV 10:30 am
French Art Colony, Gallipolis, OH 2:00pm
Call 740-992-7830 for more information.

July 12: Donna Wilson
Sistersville Library, Sistersville, WV 12:00 noon
Pleasants County Library, St. Mary’s, WV 2:00pm
Call 304-652-6701 for details

July 14: Donna Wilson
Point Pleasant River Museum 10:30 am
Our House Museum, Gallipolis, OH 2pm.
Call 740-992-7830 for information.

July 16: Suzi Whaples
Ripley Public Library 10:00 am
Ravenswood Public Library 1:00pm.
Call 304-372-5343 for details

July 19: Granny Sue
Sistersville Library 12:00 noon
Pleasants County Library 2:00pm
Call 304-652-6701 for details

July 21: Keith Maynard
Syracuse Community Center, 10am
Mason Municipal Park 2:00 pm
Call 740-992-7830 for information.

October 2: Granny Sue
Ghosts ‘n’ Me: Halloween Tales for Children
Ravenswood Library 7:00pm
Call 304-273-5343 for details

October 23: Haunting in the Hills: Ghost Stories
Alpine Theatre, Ripley, WV 7:00pm.
Storytellers: Granny Sue, Suzi Whaples, and
Keith Maynard
Call 304-372-5861 for details.

October 28: Donna Wilson: Ghost Stories
Mason City Park, 7:00pm
Call 740-992-7830 for more information.

October 28: Granny Sue: Ghost Stories
Ripley library, 7pm
Call 304-273-5343 for details

December 4: Donna Wilson
Our House Museum, Gallipolis, Holiday stories. Time TBA
Call 740-992-7830 for more information.

December 11: Granny Sue
Ripley Library, Holiday stories. Time TBA.
Call 304-372-5343 for details


The Storytellers:


Susanna “Granny Sue” Holstein is from Jackson County, WV. Her repertoire includes Appalachian and world folktales, stories with puppets, character education programs and creative writing workshops. She is a featured teller at the Three Rivers Storytelling Festival in Pittsburgh this year and has been featured at many festivals and events over the past 15 years. She is a frequent presenter for schools, libraries and civic groups.







Donna Wilson hails from Meigs County, OH. She is a teller of tales tall and tales true, and performs frequently for senior citizens as well as young audiences. Donna is active in the Ohio storytelling community and is a coordinator for the Stories at the Rivers Edge series and for the Ohio OOPS Storytelling Conference. She is an active member of the WV Storytelling guild, OOPS and the Storytellers of Central Ohio.








Suzi Whaples resides in Kanawha County and has performed all along the East coast and points west as a member of the storytelling team “Mountain Women.” She will be a featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN this October.

Keith Maynard is a resident of Mason County, WV. A railroad engineer, Keith weaves his work into his storytelling with fascinating tales of life on the rails. He has performed at the Vandalia Festival and at the B&O Railroad Museum in Grafton, WV as well as other venues.

This project is supported in part by the Ohio River Border Initiative, a joint project of the Ohio Arts Council and the WV Commission on the Arts, and by Jackson and Pleasants County libraries, Sistersville Library, Farmers Bank and Savings Company, Gallia County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Town of Mason, Point Pleasant River Museum, Arts at the Alpine and the West Virginia Storytelling Guild.

For more information contact:

Susanna Holstein, 304-372-5861
susannaholstein@yahoo.com

Donna Wilson, 740-992-7830
storycottage@hotmail.com

Stories at the River's Edge

The first time my tails ever went mobile! This lady was one of the best story helpers I've ever had.

A little drummer helps me with the tongue drums. Don't you love the delight on her face?

Tails, all lined up for a tale. This story, Uwungalema, is one of my most popular for audience participation.

I skipped right over sharing these photos from July 16th. That was my day to tell stories for the local storytelling festival, Stories at the River's Edge, arranged by Ohio storyteller Donna Wilson and me. Mostly Donna, though--I helped write the grant and come up with storytellers, but Donna is the main mover and organizer for the festival.



What it is: 8 days of storytelling for communities that border the Ohio River. This year we included the communities of Middleport Ohio, and Mason, Ripley and Ravenswood, West Virginia. Each week we featured a different storyteller who would tell at two locations on Wednesday and tow locations on Thursday.



How it's funded: through a generous grant from the Ohio River Border Initiative, a grant from Pleasant Valley Hospital, and matching funds from three libraries. Also through Donna's efforts to raise the funds (I stink at that), her ability to get people to commit to help, and assistance from several other sources. We were able to purchase a small sound system with this year's grant, which was a lot easier than lugging around my equipment. And now we're set up for next year too.

The series is over for this year. We're already thinking about what to do next year--add some more sites? Keep it the same size? Seek more donors? Add evening programs? One thing is certain--the audiences loved it and it is something our small communities need: performance art brought to their front door, or at least, to a local park.

Stories at the River's Edge: We Got Our Grant! Again!

Donna Wilson and I last summer at Stories at the River's Edge

Today was the day: today the review panel for the Ohio River Border Initiative (ORBI) grants met to review applications for the 08-09 grant cycle.

Donna Wilson attended (she and I work on this event together).

At the end of the day-we got our grant!

What's the event? Stories at the River's Edge is a series of storytelling performances on both sides of the Ohio River in Ohio and West Virginia. Last year we focused on two counties, Meigs County OH and Mason County WV. Both are communities that lack arts events. We had great audiences (averaging 50-150 per event) last year and were encouraged enough to expand to another county this year.

What helped us get the grant:

• We told a story.


• We didn't use too many words.


• We held the interest of the review panel (heck, we're storytellers!).


• We provided anecdotes (like the handicapped group coming in buses).


• We had evaluation forms from attendees.


• We were clear about what we wanted to do, and why.


• Our funding request was reasonable.

So we're off and running for another year. Our plan is to expand each year, one county at a time, one day at a time.

Last year we did four one-day events during July. This year it will be two one-day events a week for the month of July.

Next year, who knows?

A Weekend Gone Too Fast

Some weekends just don't go the way you plan--they go better.

We started out on Saturday with a hazy plan: go to town for breakfast and grocery shopping; come home and tidy up, then spend the evening working on a new program of ballads and storytelling with friends.

Chester's Store--what a place!

Part One (breakfast in town) went according to plan. We then moseyed over to Rachel's antique store to say hello and check out any new arrivals. As it turned out, our friends were at Rachel's, and in the course of browsing, decided to go to the mecca of junkers, Chester Bills' store in St. Mary's, OH. A mere hour's drive. We spent a long time looking and looking and looking, and left with a new item to add to the cabin-building display we're working on--a foot adze, complete with handle.

Dinner, and an hour's drive back to Ripley,coffee at the coffee shop, a little time online and the day was done. Not exactly as planned, but better.

Today was the day to work with Donna Wilson on the grant application for the Stories at the River's Edge festival. We figured we'd get the groceries we forgot about yesterday on our way home.

Our new festival got off to a good start last year, so this year Donna and I are planning to double the number of events and storytellers. We spent a good afternoon working on the grant--what I thought would take two hours turned into four because our conversation would ramble off into other facets of storytelling! And on the way home? Forgot the groceries again.

This evening I've been working on my next (long overdue) newsletter. There's a lot of news--the problem is what to put in, what to leave out and what to save for the next round.

The dogs decided to freshen up the atmosphere--they've treed a skunk, and as the song says, it's stinking to high heaven! Maybe I should add skunk stories and lore to the newsletter.

And maybe tomorrow on the way home from work I can get the groceries...

Time for bed!

Stories at the River's Edge Article

Well, it's only a week or so old, but I found it tonight while looking online for something else! So here it is.

Storytelling Friends

With storyteller Donna Wilson for today's Stories at the River's edge performances.

Often it seems like months go by that I do not see a single storyteller friend. This summer has been like that--without the capability to talk online with other storytellers, I would not have had contact with any of them.

So it was a fine surprise to be paged last Wednesday evening because a "man" had stopped by the library to see me. (I shouldn't have been there, but I stayed to finish up a few things.)

Turned out to be liar extraordinaire Rich Knoblich, who was in town for a conference. We had an hour or so to catch up over a glass of wine, and the time passed far too quickly. Rich placed second in the state's liar's contest this year--he's almost always in the top three. He told me that he has a book if his stories in the process of publication. I'll add a link here as soon as the book is available. It's certain to be a good read if his storytelling is any indication.

Tuesday evening storyteller Ilene Evans came to spend a couple of nights with us while she does performances and workshops in Charleston. We've had wonderful conversations, shared some ballads and caught up on the news in each other's lives.

Then I spent today with Donna Wilson of Middleport, OH, for the second day of our series Stories at the Rivers Edge. Today was my day to perform at Middleport and at Mason, WV. It was a wonderful day--good, diverse audiences, reasonable weather, and good company. It can't get much better, can it? And to top it off granddaughter Hannah was with me today.

This evening Ilene and I sat out on the deck and enjoyed the evening as we talked and talked about stories, storytelling, and ballads. She knew many Irish versions of the same songs I know, and the differences and similarities will always intrigue me.

A full day of stories and storytellers. Now that is living.

Stories at the River's Edge

Morning on the ridge, July 3, 6:00 am and I am on my way to work. I can never resist trying to photograph a sunrise. This one was much prettier than the photo.


After work, Larry and I drove across the Ohio River to meet with Meigs County storyteller Donna Wilson. We needed to work out the final details for the Stories at the River's Edge storytelling series set to begin next Wednesday July 11. We're ready to go with storytellers Suzi Whaples, Adele Browne, Donna and myself scheduled for one weekly performance each on both sides of the river during July, courtesy of an Ohio River Border Initiative grant.

What better place to meet than the Wild Horse Cafe, with its patio dining area overlooking the beautiful Ohio River. As we ate, we watched boys swinging from a rope swing on the WV side of the river. It looked like fun!

As the sun set, the river reflected the deep blue of the sky, absolutely a stunning sight.

On the way home, I tried to capture the lights at the Mountaineer Power Plant. The photo is blurry, but I kind of like it anyway.

A long day, but ending it with a friends, telling stories by the river, is about as good as it gets.

Two Storytelling Dynamos

I was supposed to be paying the bills, but instead I was listening to a CD by storyteller Ellouise Schoettler. I remember when she began telling. She and her family were regulars at the West Virginia Storytelling Festival.

That was 10 years ago. Today Ellouise is a pro. Her stories were smooth, nice finished edges, good pacing, and the interaction with her audience was evident from their laughter during well-placed pauses. The performance centered around stories about textiles and textile art, from handmade to crafted items. The rich texture of family threaded the pieces together to make a seamless whole.

Ellouise is a teller to watch or rather listen for (although I would bet she's fun to watch too).

After the CD finished it was back to the bills. Then the phone rang. It was Donna Wilson, who called to tell me she'd won second place in the Hockhocking Festival's Liars Contest. She had some stiff competition too. Donna's energy and enthusiasm are infectious. She was the driving force behind the Stories at the River's Edge series planned for this summer in Mason County, WV, and Meigs County, OH. I have no doubt the series will be a success. Donna's been a Tellabration producer for over 5 years, and her storytelling skills increase with each passing year. I think she's found her niche with lying, though. She told me the bones of her winning story, and it's a keeper.

Never did finish paying the bills, but I'd rather listen to a storyteller any day.