PERKINSVILLE, Vt. – On Saturday, July 13, at 6 p.m., at the Weathersfield Center Church, a potluck supper will celebrate the arrival of storyteller Andy Davis, traveling by bicycle from the southeast corner of the White Mountains to four Vermont and New Hampshire towns to tell stories.
Davis and his wife Andrea Walsh met while doing human rights work in Guatemala in the 1990s. Immediately following that, they and three other friends did a three-week bicycle tour around New England, raising funds for a human rights accompaniment in Guatemala. It was during his time working in refugee camps that Davis says he got his start as a storyteller, telling comic tales by candlelight. 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 www.andydavisstoryteller.com.
In Weathersfield, starting at 7:30 p.m., he’ll be performing “a multilayered story casserole” called “The Sweater.” “It weaves together my and Andrea’s love story, which began in Guatemala, with a story about the Yukon gold rush. Folded in are my time working in Vermont apple orchards, 19th-century farm life, sled dogs, prodigious snows, and a smattering of Scottish folklore.”
Jo Radner, former president of both the National Storytelling Network and the American Folklore Society, said about “The Sweater,” “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.”
The potluck begins at 6 p.m., bring your own plates and utensils if possible; the story starts at 7:30 p.m., at the Weathersfield Center Church. There is a small cost, with a sliding scale for families.
Robert O’Brien will be selling raffle tickets for a print of one of his most beautiful paintings. All funds raised for the evening, after expenses, go to the Guatemala Accompaniment Project.
For more information, call Julie Levy at 802-263-5217, or email levy.julie@gmail.com.