March has been such a  full month of  storytelling. First we had Stories Aloud at the Button Factory in Waterloo, hosted by Baden Storytellers’ Guild, of which I am a member. Our guest teller was Bruce Carmody  a retired educator who I suspect has always been somewhat of a storyteller. He shared two stories that evening, one being memories of the year he wished for skates.

 

He’s such a warm teller, connecting quickly with his audience. I had occasion to talk with him during our break. He’d given a concert the year before at Waterloo Region Museum, and his website shows that he has much to offer, including stories of historical interest.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                  Bruce Carmody, photo from his website

 

Midmonth our guild hosted a concert for World Storytelling Day, on the theme of Dragons and Monsters. The event, held at Waterloo Region Museum, featured members of the Baden Guild and Celia Barker Lottridge as our guest teller. Celia is a founding member of the Toronto School of Storytelling and is also a prolific author of children’s books and resources for the storyteller.

 

StorySave is project of Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada.  According to their website, “The project’s aim is to record the voices of elders from the Canadian storytelling community for distribution via web site and CD.”  This year, many of Celia’s stories will be preserved. Our guild decided that proceeds from our concert would go towards that project. Our concert, on Sunday March 16th, was a  resounding success.

 

  Ticket sellers, Mary-Eileen McClear and I awaiting our audience members. Guild member Michele Braniff, a teller for the concert, arranging brochures for her upcoming events in Cambridge.  Photo credit, L. Wilker

 

                                                                                                                                                                                         Our banner for the concert

Celia’s books for sale on our  Guild display table

 

Celia Barker Lottridge; Photo credit: Peter B., husband of our guild member, Anne.

 

Mary McCullum-Baldasaro, a member of our guild, telling her story at the concert. Photo credit: Peter B.

 

                                                                                                                                                                  A pleased Celia after the concert. Photo credit: Peter B.

 

 

 

As if that were not sufficient stories for the month, my husband and I attended an afternoon of storytelling, March 30, of the Toronto Storytelling Festival at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.

                                                                                                                                                 The Gladstone Hotel, Queen St. W. and Gladstone in Toronto, ON.

 

Two  members of the Baden Storytelling Guild, Judy Caulfield and Mary McCullum-Baldasaro, were performing a set together. Family Matters consisted of women’s stories from family ancestry. The storytellers delivered a rich and well-timed set about two very different women in Canada. It was well crafted with musical cues for the next section of the women’s stories.

 

Mary and Judy, ready for their part in the Festival, in the Art Bar

 

As we intended, my husband and I stayed for the afternoon of stories for adults, hearing such other tellers as Maria Ordonez, Maryaleen Trafford, Ruth Danziger in Stories that Fly; and Pat Bisset and the Three Fisherman of Toronto. Ana Kerz delivered a stunning and well-crafted story, Gladiola, about school days and a certain student in her class.  We also heard stories from Alice Kane by Bob Sherman and High Cotton. Closing the afternoon of stories were  Goldie Spencer and June Brown, with life stories about life on the wrong side of the tracks in Cornwall and learning to skip in Val d’Or.

Our food may have been light that day, having left home before lunch to make it there in time, but we were fed richly by the stories that took us many places and entertained us too. May stories do that for you as well.

 

The festival continues this Thursday and through the upcoming weekend. Perhaps another year, we’ll get there again. For now, this has been a momentous month of storytelling.