Museum Day at Campus Martius in Marietta, Ohio

WV Storytelling Guild members Susanna "Granny Sue" Holstein and Judi Tarowsky will be telling tales at Campus Martius in Marietta, Ohio on Satuday, August 6th. Come by and have a listen!

From the museum's website:

On August 6th come and celebrate Museum Day and discover everything that Campus Martius and the Ohio River Museums have to offer. A visit to the museums will not just be for historical discovery. There will be something for everyone from toddlers to seniors.

A variety of musicians will take us on trips to the past, highlighting various eras, instruments, and locales. Come and relax while you are serenaded by "Riverboat John" Ferguson, Scott Cain, John Whitacre, and Theresa and Richard Halsey.

Susan Fowler, artist, storyteller, and scientist brings her unique teaching techniques to Museum Day as she draws in young and old to learn about the history and environments of our inland waterways.

Doc Hollen, Purveyor of Patent Medicine, will be on hand with his Medicine Show to entertain and mystify. Visitors can step back in time when con men traveled the country side telling tall tales and selling snake oil to cure all.

Presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, accompanied by their wives, Mary Todd Lincoln and Martha Washington will be on hand to greet and visit with museum guests.

Storytellers, Susanna Holstein and Judi Tarowsky will delight audiences with tales of long ago. Come and reminisce with us as they recall stories and events when times were simpler and stories had a lot of heart.

This is just a little of what the day will offer! So, mark your calendars for Saturday, August 6, 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM at Campus Martius & the Ohio River Museums. And remember, this entire event is FREE!

Stories in the Round Begins in Hagerstown

Coming next week! Anyone in the Hagerstown/Frederick/Winchester/Northern VA-MD-DC area? West Virginia Storytelling Guild member Susanna Holstein will be in your neighborhood on Monday, April 25, at 7pm.

Stories, Appalachian ballads, coal mining items and more to kick off this first program in the Stories in the Round series hosted by storyteller Fanny Crawford.

Details:

Monday, April 25th 2016 7.00 p.m.
Susanna Connelly Holstein starts Season III of Stories In The Round with family stories, Appalachian ballads & folk tales. 
Unitarian Universalist Church of Hagerstown,
13245 Cearfoss Pike, Hagerstown MD. 
$10 in advance, $12 at door.

The Hello Girls Coming to West Virginia

Coming to Fairmont State University's Frank and Eva Gabor Folklife Center, 

on the campus. 

Tuesday, April 5, 5-7pm.

Admission $10 adults

$5 students

Sorry, no credit cards.

Workshop With Lyn Ford Coming Soon!

No Peeking! A Christmas Tale from Judi Tarowsky

Storyteller's Christmas: No Peeking!

My mother used to "hide" our Christmas gifts in different places in the days leading up to the Big Day. We found the first hiding place, at least that I can remember, in the closet under the stairs. I was about six then, I think. Then she shifted her stash to her bedroom, a place off-limits to children unless we were invited in. The door was almost always locked, but through the keyhole we could see a big mound covered with a sheet. We knew Santa brought most of our gifts, of course, but we also knew that our parents provided some--and that mound was s-o-o-o mysterious! 

Today Judi Tarowsky of Saint Clairsville, Ohio, shares her earlies Christmas memory. Judi has family roots in Gilmer county, West Virginia and she is currently president of the WV Storytelling Guild. 

______________________________________________________________

No Peeking!

The first Christmas I can remember was when I was a little over 2 years old, and we were living in a two-story house on Fairmont Street in New Castle, PA. I was a restless sleeper, so I was still in my crib. My mother was afraid I’d toss myself onto the floor if I were in a “big girl” bed.

 Although I’m sure I had heard all the excitement about Christmas, it hadn’t yet registered with me about Christmas morning and a visit from Santa Claus. My memory is of my older brother coming into my room when it was still dark outside, and waking me up.

“Let’s see what Santa brought us!” he said, as I climbed out of my crib and followed him into the hallway. “Shhhhh!”

Our house was two-story, with a landing halfway up the stairs. We stopped there on the landing, to look out over the living room. All was dark, except for the streetlight shining in the front window. And there, below us under the Christmas tree, something was reflecting the streetlight. Something shining. 

           

Handlebars! Handlebars on a two-wheel bike for my brother and a tricycle for me!

We scampered down the stairs as quietly as we could to inspect the marvels that Santa had left. A bicycle! 

A tricycle! Oh, the wonder! So, this is what Santa Claus did while we were sleeping! There were wrapped packages under the tree, too, but our attention was focused on the bikes. My brother wouldn’t be able to ride his bike outside until spring, but I could wheel my tricycle around the first floor of the house.

 My brother’s curiosity was satisfied, and my newly-awakened curiosity realized it was satisfied, too. We tip-toed back up the stairs – our parents were still asleep – and my brother made sure I safely climbed back into my crib.

It’s a memory. It’s a story I’ve told to our son, so now it’s his story, too. May this Christmas, and all those hereafter, bring wonderful memories to your family.

             

Share yours. Make stories.                                                         

Judi Young Tarowsky holds a BSJ from WVU and a Graduate Certificate in Storytelling from the University of North Texas. She formerly worked as a newspaper reporter in Wheeling and Steubenville, OH. Among other venues, she has performed at Three Rivers Storytelling Festival, the WV State Folk Festival, and many other venues. She was one of the founders of the Grand Vue Storytelling Festival and the Pricketts Fort Storytelling Festival.

Contact Judi at: 

Judi Tarowsky

www.tellerjuditarowsky.com

740-391-1576

mtarowsky@gmail.com

Blue Church and WVSG: Scary Stories Coming Oct 31

What’s Halloween without a chilling ghost story or two?     

Wheeling National Heritage Area’s new series, The Word @ Blue Church, and the West Virginia Storytelling Guild are preparing an evening of shivery fright with a Halloween ghost story concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at The Blue Church, 1206 Byron St., Wheeling. The major sponsor for the concert is the Wheeling Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The concert is the second in the new series, The Word @ Blue Church.

Four members of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild will present a variety of ghost stories for adults under the title, “Would You Like to Hear a Scary Story?” The concert is a joint fundraising event primarily to benefit The Blue Church renovations, as well as the WVSG ongoing professional development workshops around the state.

Tickets are $10 each and will be sold in advance on social media through Eventbrite on the Wheeling National Heritage Area and The Blue Church sites. Tickets also will be $10 at the door.

Guests will enjoy a complementary light hors d’oeuvres buffet. Beverages will be available.

photo from weelunk,com

The storytellers:

Rich Knoblich of Marshall County is author of Talking ‘bout the Relatives. He frequently judges and participates (eight ribbons) in the WV Liar’s Contest. His writings have been published in various national and regional magazines. Once the Ghost Host for Steel City Bus Tours paranormal excursions, he now guides for Oglebay Resort’s Festival of Lights.

Mikalena Zuckett of Charleston has lived most of her life in West Virginia. Born in Wheeling, she earned a BA from Bethany College in communications and a MA from WVU in counseling psychology. Mrs. Zuckett is currently WVSG’s secretary. She has performed a variety of folktales at WVSG’s tent during the past three Vandalia Gatherings and performed on the Capital Grounds for WV 150^th Celebration. Today Mrs. Zuckett is excited to share some of the stories she heard growing up, stories about the early days of Wheeling and Ohio County.

Judi Tarowsky lives in St. Clairsville, Ohio.  She tells original tall tales, history stories, folk tales and Appalachian ghost tales.  Judi currently is president of the West Virginia Storytelling Guild. She holds a graduate certificate in storytelling from the University of North Texas School of Library Sciences.  She received her bachelor of science in journalism at West Virginia University and she had worked for many years in Wheeling with The Intelligencer and The News-Register. 

Stas Ziolkowski of Pittsburgh has been telling stories for more than 40 years as a schoolteacher of science, mathematics, and as a planetarium director. He has years of experience in community and school theaters, acting, directing, writing, and even some choreography. He moved to the Pittsburgh area after six years in Arkansas, where he produced the Fairfield Bay Storyfest.

Telling Tales at the WV Storytelling Festival

Storytellers Fred Powers, Adam Booth, Susanna Holstein and Ilene Evans were the featured tellers at the annual West Virginia Storytelling Festival at Jackson's Mill near Weston, WV on October 14 and 15, 2015. 

Over 1000 school children attended over the two-day event. This festival has been in existence since 1996 and continues to attract schools that bring children to hear some of the finest of West Virginia's storytellers.

Fred "Powerhouse" Powers tells tales from his years of experience as a coal miner in McDowell County. A retired miner, Fred taught middle school before retiring a second time; he is now writing stories and performs widely as a storyteller. Fred is a WV History Hero.

Ilene Evans shares traditional folk tales and songs as well as stories from the African American experience, often appearing as History Alive character Harriet Tubman. Her performances include music, dance and sometimes multilingual stories.

Adam Booth tells Appalachian stories and original tall tales. He also sings ballads and folk songs and plays a variety of musical instruments. Adam is a multiple-time winner of the WV Liars Contest and was a featured New Voice at the National Storytelling Festival in 2015.

Susanna "Granny Sue" Holstein also tells traditional Appalachian folk tales including Jack tales, tall tales, ghost stories, historical stories and family stories. She sings Appalachian and British ballads and often tells stories about her husband's childhood in the coalfields of southern Kanawha county, WV. She leads an annual ghost walk in her county's seat or Ripley, WV.