[Scmusenet] Press Release (1) - Sixth Annual Hagood Mill Storytelling Festival - Saturday October 20

[Allen Coleman]

Sixth Annual Hagood Mill Storytelling Festival

A day of family fun coming up on Saturday, October 20

 

The Pickens County Museum of Art & History invites you to a special, and free, day of milling, stories, tall tales and lots of memories at the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center. The Mill will be operating, rain or shine, on Saturday, October 20 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.

 

   As part of the Museum's "Music in the Mountains" series, the celebration of tradition will continue on this day at the "Sixth Annual Hagood Mill Storytelling Festival." The hills around the ole mill will echo with the whispers, howls 'n hollers of some of the Carolinas' best storytellers sharing bits about all sorts of folks, mountain funnies and mystical places. 

 

   Returning to again host what has become one of Hagood Mill's favorite annual events is storyteller, musician and radio personality, John Thomas Fowler. 

 

Hailing from Boiling Springs, SC, with family ties to the western North Carolina mountains, John Thomas Fowler's storytelling is a blast of old-time energy of yesteryear introducing traditional yarns and folktales from the Carolina region. He also is an old-time mountain banjo and harmonica master, and plays several other traditional instruments occasionally blending them into his programs. John's stories and old-time songs, geared for audiences young and old, are simple stepping stones of history and southern culture. John is also a researcher and collector, writer and host an old time radio show on NC public radio station WNCW 88.7 FM. 

 

This year's festival should prove to be the best yet with a blast of fine talent gracing the stages, porches and shade trees at the mill. Joining John and the Hagood Mill regulars will be Michael "Badhair" Williams, making the trek down from the North Carolina Mountains to share an array of Appalachian folk tales. Charleston's Minerva King will be coming Upcountry to weave her songs and tales from life and folklore. Also that day everyone will enjoy those special 'faraway places close to home' as Linda Stout brings her share of folk and fairytales from the Carolina Lowcountry.

 

Charleston's Minerva King specializes in African, African-American, Caribbean, Jewish and Native America folklore. She delights in engaging her audiences in her programs, often using songs and musical instruments to enhance the her stories.

 

Linda Stout is an enthusiastic keeper of the traditional folk and fairytale, presenting programs that take listeners to 'faraway places close to home.'  Wee folk to old folk delight in her interactive approach to timeless tales in libraries, schools and festivals around the state.  As an educator, her residencies center on using storytelling as a foundation for creative writing.  Hailing from the Lowcountry of SC, Linda is co-Director of the Stories for Life Festival at Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston and is a founding member of the South Carolina Storytelling Network. 

 

Michael "Badhair" Williams, from the North Carolina mountain community of Zirconia, has been telling Appalachian folk tales on stage since 1975. When it seems that television, radio and videos have pushed storytelling into cobwebbed corners, "Badhair" sweeps it back out, pulling from his Appalachian heritage the tales that delighted our grandparents, and now delight our children and ourselves. He has enchanted and amused audiences from rural Appalachia to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. and across the nation in a multitude of school libraries and auditoriums.

 

   Continuing the theme of the day, several regional authors will be present, reading from, talking about and signing copies of their books.

 

Join in the fun from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for this FREE day of tall tales, whoppers and good ol' stories along with the monthly dose of milling, music and memories. The Hagood Mill hosts a variety of folklife and traditional arts demonstrations each month, including blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flintknapping, moonshining, quilting, spinning, weaving, woodcarving and more! Enjoy the opportunity to see the progress made on the restoration of the complete 19th Century cotton ginning operation, including gin, in-feed, compactor and baler. When restoration is complete, the gin will become part of the Mill's regular attractions and will certainly bring back memories of the days when cotton was king and the southern textile industry was just beginning. Also on hand for the day, the Upstate Chapter of the Early Ford V-8 Club will be present with a variety of antique automobiles, telling their stories of yesteryear's travels.

 

 "Music in the Mountains 2007" is sponsored by a private benefactor. The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

 

There promises to be lots to do and lots of fun! So, head on out, grab a plate of barbeque, a hot dog or some funnel cake and enjoy a day at the Mill. Show your support for the Mill and the Pickens County Museum by joining them at this monthly Third Saturday event. The Hagood Mill operates, rain or shine, the third Saturday of every month and is located just 3 miles north of Pickens or 5 ½ miles south of Cherokee Foothills Scenic Hwy 11 off SC Hwy 178 at 138 Hagood Mill Road. Hagood Mill is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00, to tour the buildings and grounds and to visit the Mill Site Gift Shop. 

 

For additional information please contact the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center at (864) 898-2936 or the Pickens County Museum at (864) 898-5963.

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