Stories on Asheville’s Front Porch, a perennial summer series, is kicking into gear for the month of July. Sarah Larson started this series of storytelling programs eight years ago.
It continues to bring some of the best regional stories and storytellers to Downtown Asheville on Saturday mornings in July. Each week tellers will present stories, and sometimes songs, around a theme. This year the stories have had to move from The Rhino Courtyard of the Diana Wortham Theatre because of the construction going on at the Asheville Art Museum. However, “The Front Porch” has settled into Jubilee! On Wall St. The offerings are still free.
The line-up opens on July 8th with Family Fare. All Saturday programs are appropriate for families, but John Thomas Fowler is bound to keep the interest of the young and young-at-heart with his lively stories and songs. Pansy the Clown will provide some entertainment before John Thomas Fowler begins his stories at 10:30. Ice cream from The Hop will be available for purchase.
On July 15, we’ll take a look at the history of Moonshine in the Mountains with tellers Jon Sundell, Sandra Gudger, and Milton Higgins. We have found some of the best these mountains have to offer in experienced tellers on this subject. Some one will teach moonshine basics by distilling water before your very eyes! You will hear in story, poetry, and song what the corn whiskey business was really like.
World Tales will come to Asheville’s Front Porch on July 22nd. Asheville is home to some tellers who will share true stories and some maybe-not-so-true tales from afar. The rest of the world is not so far away. Come hear what Walter Ziffer, Kirsten Mitchell, and Daphne Darcy have to say.
Joe Penland, a native of Madison County, will take the Porch’s stage on the last Saturday of July with traditional Mountain Tales and tunes of Appalachia. This accomplished, renowned storyteller-musician will take us on a frolicking romp with music and story.
Come sit a spell (an hour or so) at 10:30 am at Jubilee! Saturdays – July 8,15, 22, and 29. You’ll hear stories that will set your imagination to roamin’ these hills.
(Image: Ray Hicks telling a story in front of a painted blue structure.)