WY WOMEN & FAMILY: Big Horn Basin Folk Festival Family Entertainment August 4&5, Thermopolis

 

KIDS ACTIVITIES AND GHOST STORIES AT THE BIG HORN BASIN FOLK FESTIVAL, THERMOPOLIS AUGUST 4&5

For more information:  bighornbasinfolkfestival@gmail.com

The Fourth Annual Big Horn Basin Folk Festival is coming up soon. The festival is part of the Gift of the Waters Pageant Days week-end, Saturday and Sunday, August 4 and 5, 2018, in Hot Springs State Park, Thermopolis, Wyoming. The festival program includes a robust line-up of activities for the whole family, along with Wyoming’s own artists, craftsmen, musicians, storytellers, artisan and guild members’ demonstrations.

“There will be a variety of art and music activities for kids and the whole family to choose from on both days”, according to Festival Committee head Toddi Darlington. “You can pick up a schedule at the festival and find exact times and locations”. Activities on Saturday include Sun Fabric art and owl rock painting in the Kids Being Creative Activity Tent plus the Color Thermopolis Mural,  roping, and a singalong with V, the Gypsy Cowbelle with handmade instruments on The Green. The Buffalo Steel Drum band will be playing too. Ghost Stories at The Pavilion start around 7:30pm, after the Pageant.

On Sunday, there will be additional activities in the Kids Being Creative Activity Tent, including Sallie Wesaw and Friends with hands-on iris basket making — plus there will be demonstrations and storytelling on both days around the festival that will be for the whole family to enjoy. Food will be available both days.

Miss V, Gypsy Cowbelle photo courtesy Big Horn Basin Folk Festival committee

The festival is part of the Gift of the Waters Pageant Days weekend. The Pageant tells how the hot springs were transferred to the state by the Native Americans on the Wind River Reservation. It will be performed starting at 6 pm in the area around the Big Spring Saturday and Sunday evening, and is free and open to the public. T-Shirts for both the Folk Festival and the Pageant are available to buy in advance at Thermopolis Print Zone/Discover Thermopolis, 521 Broadway.

The Big Horn Basin Folk Festival is open to the public without charge. It is sponsored by Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation, Kiwanis International and Hot Springs State Park with support from National Endowment of the Arts, Wyoming Arts Council, IMtour, Wyoming Independent Music Initiative and Hot Springs Travel & Tourism. Additional support is from Hot Springs County Education Endowment, Las Fuentes, Thrivent Financial and Pinnacle Bank.

Contact  bighornbasinfolkfestival@gmail.com  for more details.

Roping is one of the fun family activities available at the Big Horn Basin Folk Festival August 4&5 in Thermopolis. Photo courtesy BHBFF committee

Big Horn Basin Folk Festival – Catch it this August 6-7 in Thermopolis!

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click on the image above for a full list of Big Horn Basin Folk Festival Events & Details!

“Hear Me Now” — Wyoming Storytellers Take Spotlight

By Ellen Sue Blakely

Images provided by Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation

For a full schedule of presenters during “Hear Me Now” Storytelling Circle, August 6-7, see www.wyomingfolkfestival.com. Other weekend events include the Gift of the Waters Pageant Days, Kiwanis Craft Fair and the Big Horn Basin Folk Festival, with music performances all day, demonstrators, workshops, food vendors, juried art show & sale and kid-friendly activities.

When we were kids and all the cousins gathered for the annual Fourth of July ice cream and watermelon feast, our great aunt Kate kept all of us in line by expounding on a “haint” she called “Rawhide and bloody bones.” For years, we assumed Aunt Kate had made up this scary haunt of a creature.

It turns out that Kate had borrowed and adapted “Rawhide” from an Irish tale — probably one she had heard as a child from her grandparents who had come from the Emerald Isle. Aunt Kate is long gone; but, to this day, her scary rendition still brings chills and laughter to the now-aging cousins.

That’s the power of story. If you have ever sat around a campfire and told (or listened to) ghost stories or tall tales, you know its spell. Those who study stories as an art form say telling stories is the oldest art form; and from it grew poetry — rhyming was a way of remembering a longer story.

Although there has not been an organized effort at preserving Wyoming’s stories in recent years, our people have always been inveterate storytellers. Mountain men told plenty of whoppers when they gathered at the fur-trading rendezvous. Music and storytelling were common in the Native American tipis, cowboy bunkhouses, farmhand shacks and homestead cabins. It still is. Given half a chance, today’s outfitters, hunters and fishermen will regale listeners with tales about the “ones that got away.”

This year, Wyoming is taking a step to share our long-standing storytelling tradition at “Hear Me Now,” the state’s first organized Storytelling Circle. (The concept of a “storytelling circle” harks back to those days of campfires and tipis.) The event is part of the Big Horn Basin Festival, August 6-7, 2016, in Hot Springs State Park, Thermopolis. “Hear Me Now” is sponsored by Hot Springs Greater Learning Foundation with a ThinkWyoming grant from the Wyoming Humanities Council. Additional support comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and Wyoming Arts Council.

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“Hear Me Now” will be moderated by Spencer Bohren, nationally known musician and storyteller. Although Bohren now lives in New Orleans, Wyomingites still claim him as their own since he grew up in Casper, and his family still lives and plays music there. Bohren maintains strong ties with the state, presenting educational programs in the schools and public performances in Wyoming communities throughout the year.

Professional storytellers telling tales throughout the day are Michelle King, Basin; Catherine Ringler, Powell; Marilyn Braaten, Thermopolis, and Jennisen Lucas, Cody. The group recently formed the Big Horn Basin Storytelling Guild to promote the art of storytelling.

Echo Klaproth, Shoshoni, former Wyoming poet laureate, and Dick Hall, Thermopolis, cowboy poet, will bring poetry into the tent. Mike Hurwitz, who will be performing at the Big Horn Basin Folk Festival during the weekend, will drop by with his own brand of Western stories. Karl Milner, who specializes in mountain man skills, will add a story or two from the mountain man era. Annie Hatch, Wyoming Arts Council folk arts specialist, will give a bit of historical perspective on the art of Wyoming storytelling. Miss V, sometimes called “The Gypsy Cowbelle,” will talk about her adventures homesteading in Wyoming.

As a special feature, Spencer Bohren will perform his nationally acclaimed “Down the Dirt Road Blues,” 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m., Sunday, August 7, in the Storytelling Tent. Bohren uses historic music instruments as he tells how one song moved from its African roots to blues to rock and roll.

“Hear Me Now” is free and of interest to all ages. Visitors can “come sit a spell” and — if you are so inclined — you can even add your own tales — true or otherwise — during the open microphone opportunities.

After all, if you don’t tell your favorite story, who will?

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Ellen Sue Blakey of Thermopolis is a textile artist, rug braider, author, musician and occasional storyteller. You can hear and see her story about rug braiding and Depression-era women on youtube. If you attend the Storytelling Circle, look her up, say the magic words “Uncle Charlie”; she may just tell you the story of Charlie, the sheriff’s hat, a blackberry pie, and how he came to Wyoming.

 

Bent & Rusty Barn Sale South of Laramie

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THE BENT & RUSTY COTTON COMPANY

of Laramie has lots happening!

Out & About around Southeast Wyoming today (July 16)?

Check out Laramie’s The Bent & Rusty Cotton Company‘s Barn Sale! “The Bent & Rusty Barn Sale is open early. 10% OFF your entire purchase. Located at 4733 West End Road. Head South out of Laramie on US HWY 287 for 1.5 miles and follow the colorful flags and Barn Sale signs. Call 307-760-4139 for questions.” They have really fun & unique items & decor!

The Bent & Rusty Cotton Company has regular barn sales like this one – stay tuned to their website & Facebook page for information on the next one!

 

Visit their Downtown Laramie store at 117 E Grand Ave!

Check out their Jennifer Casebeer’s Pop Up Art Gallery, July 21-23!

“Bring your old barn door, gate, rusty corrugated tin, rusty tractor fender and have Jennifer Casebeer paint cowboy boots, cattle, roosters and more on it. Talented acrylic paint artist that brings life to your favorite western art with the relics of the past as her canvas. Mark your calendar!!”

View their Facebook event page

Bent and Rusty Barn Sale July Bent and Rusty Barn Sale July 2 Bent and Rusty Barn Sale July 3 Bent and Rusty Barn Sale July 4

Visit Bent & Rusty's Downtown Laramie  location at 117 E. Grand Ave!
Visit Bent & Rusty’s Downtown Laramie location at 117 E. Grand Ave!