By: Robin Ford Wallace

Staff Reporter

A storytelling seminar on July 20 at the Dade County Library drew 34 participants, said Gayla Brewer, library manager, who was tickled at the turnout. “I didn’t expect this many,” she said.

Ms. Brewer said upwards of 80 patrons wandered in and out during the election-night session; the 34 were participants who took chairs and stayed to listen.

The program, “Sharing Your Story,” featured Chattanooga-area storyteller Jim Pfitzer. It was co-hosted by a partnership between the library and its Friends group with the Trenton Arts Council.

Pfitzer entertained attendees with a story from his repertoire, then invited them to tell their own, plying them with precepts for effective narration that included an admonition to be true to the idea of the story rather than the bare bones of its facts.

The Sentinel must observe that Dade raconteurs have never seemed unduly burdened with any fanatical devotion to facts, and cannot but hope that Pfitzer’s attempts to liberate them further from veracity will fall upon deaf ears. In any case, attendees seemed to enjoy themselves.

Ginnie Sams of the Trenton Arts Council revealed in her introduction of the session that the storytelling motif was meant to tie in with a public story project planned for Happenings, the Sept. 11 event TAC is staging at Pee Wee Payne’s Lookout Creek facility on Cureton Mill. The project will involve recording participants’ stories to be archived at the library.

“Record your stories for your family whether they want to listen to them now or not,” Ms. Sams urged. “There will come a day when they thank you.”

The library, Friends of the Library and TAC will host another storytelling seminar on Aug. 17, this one featuring storyteller, poet and writer Finn Bille. The event begins at 6 p.m. at the library.