The New Hampshire Storytelling Alliance will present the sixth Annual White Mountain Storytelling Festival on Friday, September 23, through Sunday, September 25 in Waterville Valley. Among the more than a dozen storytellers are two Andover residents: Lauretta Phillips and Peter Brodeur.
Lauretta has been telling stories professionally since 1987. She writes most of her own stories, but her repertoire also includes folk tales, fairy tales, legends, urban tales, tall tales, small tales, cat tales, rat tales, and just plain tales.
Peter is a great teller of not just family stories, but is a keeper of sacred native tales passed on to him by native tellers and keepers of tales.
Sharon Kennedy of Medford, Massachusetts is the featured teller for the Festival. The event will bring together more than a dozen experienced storytellers to share their tales throughout the weekend. Among our sponsors are the Waterville Valley Resort, Waterville Valley Town Square and the Snowy Owl Inn,
Sharon Kennedy lives a life of storytelling. A professional storyteller for 30 years, she has told stories and taught storytelling throughout the United States. She has produced five CD’s that have won awards from Parents’ Choice and Publishers Weekly, told stories on National Public Radio and on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America,” and was featured in a Yankee Magazine article entitled “60 People Who Make New England New England.”
She will present a potpourri of stories: wildly funny and contemporary for adults; a mystical tale from Ireland, a mill girl from Lowell, Massachusetts, for children and their families stories collected in Ghana and Burkina Faso, West Africa.
The Festival begins with a free Friday evening Ghost Story concert, beginning at 7:30 at the Gazebo in Town Square. Tellers are Peter Brodeur, Claire Chandler, Papa Joe Gaudet, Ruth Niven, Lauretta Phillips, John Sanders & features Sharon Kennedy. Dress appropriately for a cool September evening and be prepared for an evening of hair raising, spine tingling tales.
A full day of storytelling is planned for Saturday, with concerts between 10 AM and 7:30 PM. Arrive early to park, register, and make your way to the indoor locations. Two concerts will begin at 10 AM. One designed for children will feature Jackson Gillman at the Rey Center. The adult concert, New Hampshire Talkers with Rebecca Rule & Joel Sherburne, will also be at the Meeting Place.
The annual Raising Our Voices Concert will begin at 11:15 AM, with Jackson Gillman, Faye Hanson, Anne Jennison and Ela Ramsey.
Between noon and 2 PM, the stories will move outdoors for an open mic storytelling in the Town Square during the 17th Annual Chili Challenge and Brew Tent. The Uncle Steve Band will provide music with the stories taking place during the band’s scheduled breaks.
At 2:30 PM Sharon Kennedy will present a concert for families at the Meeting Place, followed by a 4 PM concert by Simon Brooks and Anne Jennison. At 7:30 PM Kennedy will end the evening with a concert at the Meeting Place.
Stories continue on Sunday morning with a free concert of sacred stories at 9:30 AM with Peter Brodeur, Claire Chandler, Ruth Niven, Lauretta Phillips, John Sanders and Sharon Wood.
Tickets may be purchased individually for each of the concerts, or at $25. for the full conference, which will cover one adult and up to four children under 12. Online purchases at nhstorytelling.org/festival.