The 11th Annual Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival brings voices from around the country to Hiawassee, Ga., on April 4 and April 5 to share family histories, ghosts stories and cultural connections.
A founder of the gathering, Amanda Lawrence, likes nothing better than a good ghost story. Each year, she spins spooky yarns at the gathering, which she also co-directs.
Oral history
(Credit: Amanda Lawrence)
Born in South Georgia and now a longtime resident of Blairsville, Lawrence said storytelling is an important part of the Appalachian oral history tradition.
“It’s a part of preserving heritage in this part of the world, passing down stories that have come from parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, and even stories that got brought in when people moved here,” she said. “You know, stories that are about the history of this place. Storytelling is, like I said, it’s not so much about being at a microphone and giving a performance to an audience. It’s about expressions of community and expressions of identity.”
Competing to be heard
This year’s Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival features Southeastern tellers as well as national names like Ray Christian and Dovie Thomason.
Christian says storytelling traditions are honed through vocal delivery, like these lines from one of his tales:
“But here’s the thing,” Christian said, as he began one of his stories in character, “One day I showed up, and there was an ambulance outside, people all around. And it seems like the guy that I had been delivering newspapers to for months had been dead for well over a year, but I collected my money.”
But storytelling also requires peers and a competitive spirit, Christian said of his time in the military and especially during his upbringing in Richmond, Va.
“Knowing people who everything was a story when they had to describe something, like they were fixing something, making a fire,” Christian explained. “Combine that with the fact that I lived in a world where every old person was the grandchild or child of former slaves; it was common. Every teenager was involved in civil rights in some way. So, as a kid, like under 12, you had no stories to tell that were of any significance, that didn’t duplicate those of the peers around you. So, it was a highly competitive place to learn how to tell stories.”
‘This is who we are’
Thomason, whose family tree includes Native American heritage, said she understands the significance of the festival taking place in the heart of historic Cherokee lands. She believes stories are the truest archives of past generations.
“Traditionally, we delight in seeing others and listening to others,” she said. “And so I think that that communication is needed now more than ever, that ability to look at each other, to see each other. Be seen. Hear each other. Be heard. It’s really, really important right now. But it’s always been so — this is who we are.”
(Credit: Dovie Thomason)
Although storytelling happens on many platforms these days, including podcasts, Lawrence believes there’s a reason humans telling each other stories in the same room will never go out of style.
“You know, if you think about stories that have been handed down from generation to generation, they’re not good because they’re old — they’re old because they’re good,” she said. “But people keep telling them and retelling them because they continue to have value for each generation and in each new context.”
Lawrence adds, “Now, the stories are always getting tweaked. They’re always changing, depending on, you know, whose mouth they’re coming out of. But they are a way to share something that lasts and that matters. And I think for people in this part of the world, it’s particularly important to be able to claim your voice, right, to use your stories, to say who you are, who your people are, where you came from, and why you matter and why your story matters.”
How to attend?
The festival will be held at the Ridges Resort on Lake Chatuge in Hiawassee.
The public is welcome to enjoy the storytelling in person or virtually. General admission tickets to the Georgia Mountain Storytelling Festival are $20 for one day or $35 for two days. Online viewing tickets are $10 each.
To reserve your ticket, visit EventBrite or click here.
This article comes to Now Habersham in partnership with GPB News
