Fifth Storytelling Festival this weekend

ST. MARYS – The fifth anniversary of the Once Upon a Thames Storytelling Festival takes place here this weekend.

Once Upon a Thames is a three-day festival of music and storytelling. Held on the banks of the Thames River in downtown St. Marys, it is produced by St. Marys Storytelling Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the revival of oral storytelling.

The festival's special feature over the weekend, called Many Voices-One World, is made possible by funding from Celebrate Ontario, the Ministry of Tourism’s initiative to get people to visit the special festivals and events happening in Ontario.

It will showcase multilingual storytelling, where the story is told in English but with threads of the teller's native language woven in.

Featured tellers include favourites Antonio Rocha, Charly Chiarelli, Marylyn Peringer, and Adwoa Badoe.

All events at the Flats are by donation. For a complete schedule, as well as biographies of tellers and workshop information, visit www.stmarysstorytelling.org.

“While we have always had a cultural thread at our festivals, for our fifth anniversary we decided to go global with an emphasis on language and communication,” says Festival coordinator Carol McLeod. “This year's tellers will represent many countries including Brazil, Argentina, France, Ghana, Sicily, Malta, and Japan.

“Linguists say that storytelling may be hardwired into our brains as something we have an innate capacity for. So, instead of thinking that you won't understand the stories this year, think instead of the primal nature of language and our instinctive ability to understand each other. Combined with the talent of the storytellers, you might be surprised at your multilingual abilities!”

Friday night's festivities begin with a family concert of stories and music suitable for adults and children aged four years old and up at the main tent at 7 p.m.

Three storytelling workshops will take place on Saturday morning from 9-11:30 am.

Author and storyteller Celia Lottridge will give a reading for children at the St. Marys Public Library at 11 a.m.

Beginning at 1 p.m., storytellers will again take the stage in the Many Voices-One World tent with engaging tellers also in the Adult and Children's tents till 5 p.m.

At 8 p.m. an evening concert for adults and children eight years old and up will take place with musical guests Rant Maggie Rant.

Sunday morning opens with a free story swap from 10:30 till noon in the Adult tent, and the conclusion of the festival at 2 p.m. with a special multilingual concert called “Celebrating the Generations” in honour of Grandparents Day.