Bedtime Stories
Timpanogos Storytelling Festival
August 30, 2013
Provo, Utah
Nothing could be more pleasant than sitting in the cool
canyon breezes and being entertained by delightful storytellers. Well, nothing except ending the
aforementioned evening with a Krispy Kreme donut. This is why the Bedtime Stories event at the
Timpanogos Storytelling Festival has been a favorite event for my little family
over the years. Imagine my pain, then,
when we wandered up to the donut table as usual and after handing a donut to
each of my sweet girls they did not hand one to me.
“Are there no donuts for Mommies?” I asked jovially (such a
ridiculous question, I know!)
The overly cheery reply should have tipped me off that this
was no joke. “We have coupons for buy a
dozen get a dozen free at the end of the table!”
“Seriously. There
aren’t any donuts for Mommies?” This
could not be happening. I know I’m not 5
years old, but I do have a heart. And a
stomach. And you’re dangling my favorite
donut right there in front of my face.
And I’m starving. And this really
isn’t the time of month to be denying me sugar.
(Not to get too personal or anything.)
And, by the way, I have a ticket just like my kids do. In fact, I paid for all of the tickets. And the advertising for this event just said
that donuts would be served after the readings, not that parents would be
arbitrarily denied donuts just because they are old enough to drive their
children to this event, pay for the tickets for this event, supervise their
children at this event, herd their children through the long line for this
event, and keep their children from throwing their napkins on the ground after
this event. I think I’m a person you want
to keep happy, folks, and this can be accomplished by GIVING ME A DONUT.
Bigger smile: “We have coupons at the end of the table!”
“Are you telling me there are no donuts for Mommies?” Yes.
That is in fact what they were telling me. Move on, sister. The pain was compounded when I discovered
that the other mommies in my group just took a donut without waiting to be
served one and therefore only got the stink eye from the volunteers. I should have been more brazen. (In fact, I was more brazen when they were
packing up the MANY MANY boxes of leftover donuts at the end. I walked right up and said, “NOW are there
donuts for Mommies?” There were.)
I feel better now that I’ve gotten that off my chest.
Like I said, I love this event. I love the venue. I love the smiles and the laughs and the look
of sheer delight on my children’s faces.
Love it. My daughter is a budding
writer and I feel like I am feeding her start too by coming to something like
this.
The Bedtime Stories event is aimed at kids and features a
mix of adult storytellers and kids. I
asked my kids which was their favorite and we all agreed: the little boy who
told the story “Don’t Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus.” It’s no surprise, really, because we love the
book. The little boy (Bridger Backus)
was so tiny—five?—but he certainly held his own on stage, especially
considering the storyteller he followed (Carmen Deedy). She was from Cuba and was the most engaging
of all of the storytellers. Her story, a
call and repeat tale about a rooster and his diamond button, was hilarious
because of her asides and the opportunity we had to be a part of the
story. Each of the little girls pounded
their fists with gusto: “Give me back my diamond button!” and we learned the
important lesson that “he who has the king’s underwear has the king’s
attention.” I get the feeling she wanted
us to apply this to current events and instigate a Political Panty Raid. Or maybe she had just read one of my favorite British children's picture books, "The Queen's Knickers."
The little boy’s story also included audience participation
but because it was a well known story, no instruction was necessary. We all knew to shout out “NO!” every time the
pigeon made his request. He was so cute
in his pigeon costume and didn’t seem to have even one misstep (or maybe just
one). We were all quite taken with
him.
Two other child storytellers (older) performed as well as
two more adults. My older daughter and I
were engaged the whole time, but my 4 year old lost interest after the pigeon
(she and her cousin had a delightful time shooting plastic arrows at my head
for the rest of the evening). Leah
Jacobsen and Mason Watts were fun storytellers with stories that had a humorous
twist. Laura Pershin Raynor told a
delightful story of growing up by a zoo and dreaming of lollipops that were “bigger
than my head.” I loved the image of
falling asleep to the sounds of lions roaring and the visceral image of biking
home with the sticky mess of a lollipop under her arm. I think there was a collective shudder along
the entire row when she told us that! Ed
Stivender told the sweet tale of “The Man in the Moon in Love” and ended with
the crowd-pleasing 50 Ways to Fool Your Mother (moral of the story: you can’t
fool your mother. This went over well
with the Mommy Crowd. Also, you can’t go
wrong when an older white guy really commits to performing a rap. It’s just funny. I’m sure someday I will tire of it, but this
was not that day.) My daughter was
especially pleased with Ed’s performance because he also came to her school
earlier in the week and did a special assembly (which she tells me was equally
funny and wonderful). Thank you, Ed, for
taking the time to go out to the schools!
It was after this that, full of laughter and smiles, we
wandered down for donuts (see above rant).
But after the donut debacle we had a pleasant end to the evening,
chatting in the beautiful park while our kids played tag, pleased to have heard
people play with language with just as much wild abandon. We must go to more events next year! And I’ll bring my own sugar.
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