Marble Springs Storytelling Festival to feature Sam Venable

By Jeaneane Payne

The Marble Springs Storytelling Festival will be held this year on April 14 from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Marble Springs State Historic Site. Parking is free, and food will be available. The festival is a Dogwood Arts Festival Event.

This family event will feature special guest speaker Sam Venable, author and humorist.

Venable is a humor columnist for the Knoxville (TN) News Sentinel and a native of Knoxville. Winner of more than three dozen national and regional writing awards, he has 150 periodical credits to his record. He is the author of ten books, which will be available at Marble Springs. Sam has been a contributing author for other books, including The Tennessee Encyclopedia and The Encyclopedia of Appalachia.

In recent years, Venable has become increasingly popular on the stand-up comedy circuit. He delivers his bizarre look at life on a wide variety of topics - everything from how to speak hillbillyese, to the insanity of ever present warning labels, as well as coping with the nutty life in which we live, and the perils of growing older. In his spare time, he enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking and swimming. His wife, Mary Ann, is also a native Knoxvillian and a graduate of UT. For more information on Sam, visit samvenable.com.

Area students will present on stage between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.

A festival tent will feature a Liars Concert, Appalachian Folk Tales, Fairy Tales & Myths, Historic, and Life Stories presented by professional performing artists.

If you enjoy ghost stories, gather around the bonfire at 6:00 p.m. for slightly scary stories. Seriously scary stories will begin at 7:00 p.m., and Severely Scary Stories (adults, 18 or older) will be held at the Tavern.

Featured storytellers will be Owen Duncan who will present at 3:00 p.m. and Ruthie McIntyre at 5:00 p.m.

Owen Duncan speaks of the experience of life. You are invited to join him, going from a small farm, to his sawmill days in the foothills of Tennessee, from a one room school, to his family as a husband, father and grandfather. He is author of "From the Country: Poems for Ordinary Folks", He has told stories at Smoky Mt. Storytelling Festival in Pigeon Forge, The Lions Club, Maryville College, Knoxville & Cleveland Libraries, and schools in Hamilton and Meigs Counties. He has entertained at Marble Springs, Tellabration, World Storytelling Day, Blue Tarp Special, the annual Halloween Program at Cleveland Museum, and at Pumpkin Town in Athens. Owen is a member of SMSA, also Cleveland Storytelling Guild, Cleveland, TN.

Ruthie McIntyre of Farragut got interested in storytelling when one of her college students commented, "I love to come to class. Every day you tell a different story that makes me want to learn." She energetically turned that comment into a way to give back to her community since her retirement. She has a talent for generating a good story on almost any topic you give her and sometimes incorporates music in her stories. She is a winner of the national Fulbright Exchange Teaching Award and lived in Manchester, England for 2 years. Living abroad started her hobby of traveling the globe extensively to collect and tell stories that challenge the audience to think about their own lives. Locally she tells at schools, churches, and hospitals, homes for seniors, conferences, camps and retreats. Ruthie has told for the Welcome Wagon, World Storytelling Day at Maryville College, at Marble Springs in conjunction with the Dogwood Arts Festival and at Pumpkin Town in Athens. Ruthie also designs, makes and sells jewelry.l

All Storytellers are members of National Storytelling Network, Jonesborough, TN, Tennessee Storytelling Association, Nashville, TN, Knoxville Arts & Culture Alliance, and Smoky Mountain Storytellers Association, Knoxville, TN. All are non-profit Corporations.

Marble Springs State Historic Site is located at 1220 West Gov. John Sevier Hwy, Knoxville, TN 37920. Bring seating. Admission is $5 all day, $3 student, under 6 FREE. Family: $20. You can get hand stamped to come and go. For group discounts, please call 865-573-5508 or by email at marblesprings@gmail.com.

Published March 15, 2012