GUILFORD-On Thursday, July 11, at 6:30 p.m., New Hampshire storyteller Andy Davis will be performing outdoors at the historic Spring Farms in Guilford at 49 Carpenter Hill Rd.
He will be joined by several local storytellers including Prudence Baird, Lissa Weinmann, and Mary Collins. Suggested donation is $15 but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Children and adults who can sit through long stories are welcome.
The venue will open at 6 p.m. for gathering and picnicking. There is plenty of parking in Guilford Center and accessible parking for people who need to be closer to the venue at the Farm.
"If the name Andy Davis rings a bell, this storyteller is not the beloved Brattleboro-area legend, the local musician, storyteller, dance caller and retired music teacher," organizers wrote in a news release. "That Andy Davis is out of town, so the name niche needed filling. Both Andy Davises have the idea that they ought to perform together sometime but, alas, this will not be the time. They even kind of look alike! Watch for a future Andy Davis & Andy Davis music and storytelling extravaganza."
The event is part of the storyteller's week-long tour by bicycle. Davis will leave his Tamworth, New Hampshire home, in the southeast corner of the White Mountains, and pedal to a series of house parties and other events in New Hampshire and Vermont before pedaling home.
Is this some kind of a gimmick? "No, it just feels natural to combine two of the things I love the most, riding my bike and telling stories," said Davis. "But there is a certain satisfaction in being able to say, 'there were no carbon emissions emitted in bringing you these tales.'"
Davis lived in Keene, New Hampshire, throughout the 1980s and went to Guatemala to do human rights work during the 1990s where he got his start as a storyteller, telling comic tales by candlelight in refugee camps. He has since broadened and refined his craft and has entertained audiences as far north as County Down, as far east as Paris, as far south as Bamako, and as far west as San Diego. Find out more about his work at andydavisstoryteller.com.
At the Springs Farm, following an opening set by local storytellers, Davis will perform a multi-layered story casserole called "The Sweater," which blends personal narrative, New England and North American history, and Scottish folklore, along with the human (and canine) search for meaning and belonging, 19th-century farm life, sled dogs, the Yukon gold rush, apple tree pruning in Vermont, prodigious snows, frigid temperatures, and an international love story that revolves around … a sweater.
About this tale, Jo Radner, former president of both the National Storytelling Network and the American Folklore Society said, "Only Andy Davis could weave a story of such complexity and such sparkling novelty, wrapped in love, smelling like old sheep, and, finally, full of mystery. A delightful journey!"
For more information, call Mary Wallace Collins at 617-293-8002, or email [email protected].
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.