Mike and I share a love of this region and its crafts and stories and people. It was just a coincidence that we landed in Jonesboro the day before the National Storytelling Event that happens there every October.
The little town in the mountains of Tennessee will be filled with stories all weekend, the best storytellers from all over the country, chosen from local and state storytelling events all year. On the day before it started, the town was festive.
I bought a basket from Diane--a combination of Appalachian and Shaker style that she's perfected over 25 years of basket making. We talked to her for a good long while as she was set up in the visitor's center. Mike had bought me a storyteller T-shirt there and I didn't realize until miles down the road that I'd left it at Diane's display. I called and she said she'd mail it to me.
"What's your favorite part of the day?" I asked Mike last night.
"Talking to the people," he said.
It's like sparking flames when people take the time to listen to each other, asking questions, and telling stories.
Mike perks up his ears when strangers tell us from whence they come. He's attuned to every detail: the best places to eat lobsters, the history of their places, and what they do there. The best restaurants and sites come from the people who know their places.
We weren't able to stay for the festival this year, but plan to go next year. There are huge white tents all over town where people gather to hear stories. But we heard plenty in the streets and in the shops in town. "Everybody has a story," Mike says. And when he looks at old objects and signs, what he really wants to know are the stories behind them.
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