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  Spring Storyfest Charms Visitors The May 21st African-American Story Telling and Blues Music Festival celebrated the African-American culture that was part of Scull Shoals history from near its beginning. Storytellers Cynthia Watts and Chetter Galloway charmed the visitors and Volunteers alike with their tales and music. Blues Guitarist Sammy Blue alternated with the two storytellers to keep listeners entranced from 1:00 until 5:00 pm. Phil Bainbridge and other volunteers kept everyone fed and happy with our famous food. The sales table did a brisk business, and we raffled off two of our T-shirts to those who came. Visitors included Mrs. Nancy Barnett Ward of Athens and several of her family, all of whom were most welcome. Everyone who came for the afternoon festivities in the warming spring sunshine had a wonderful time. Despite the best efforts of our Contract Curator Laurie Sedicino, the attendance was not as good as expected that day. Laurie had sent out news releases to the local and regional media, she and others visited community leaders, and sent flyers to churches and other groups in the Greene and surrounding counties. Still, the returns were not promising. Those who didn’t attend missed a fantastic day, but those who came had a great time! The event was partly supported by the grant we applied for from the Georgia Humanities Council, and also by donations, ticket sales, the sales desk, and raffles. The intent was to remind the public of the vibrant contributions of the African culture to the life of 19th Century Scull Shoals Mill Village, and to American life today. Coming Events - October Fair In an informal discussion after the Storyfest on March 21st, volunteers talked about possible directions for the future of Friends festivals. The discussion continued with other members by e-mail and telephone for some time afterward. One item from the discussions was that the Friends’ greatest challenge is to get people to the mill village site. We want to tell the Scull Shoals story, build Friends memberships and support for our educational projects--and of course to raise money to do these things. Most of the group felt we should forego hosting an on-site event this Fall. So, this October the Friends will have a booth at the Oconee County Fair. Application has been made, and Charles and Joyce Baugh are sponsoring the booth. Friends will staff it, with photos of our past events, a papermaking demonstration, sales of our various items, a raffle, descriptions of our “Traveling Trunk” educational programs, and sign-up sheets and gifts for new members. The booth will allow us to make contact with many of the potential 20,000 visitors who regularly attend this fair--we won’t have to do any of the promotion for it! It will take effort from us, but not nearly so much as the 3-4 festivals we have been putting on and hosting each year. Still it will allow us to get our message out to thousands of people we would not have met otherwise. In addition, we will target advertising for special tours of the mill village to specific groups: businesses, churches, civic, cultural, and social groups, and schools in the area. This way we will have advance data on when, who, and how many people are coming, and we can schedule the tour guides accordingly. We should probably begin with re-establishing contacts with Reynolds Plantation, then expand to other organizations in the area, through the Tourism and Visitors Bureaus here and state-wide. This targeted tour project should, with good management, require us to train additional tour guides, to preserve our current ones. Curator’s Report - Laurie Sedicino One of the activities supported by the grant from the Georgia Humanities Council was the hiring of our contract Curator, Laurie Sedicino. She has worked very hard to organize and promote the two festivals we have hosted this spring: the March 19th Tours and Craft Festival, and the May 21st African-American Storyfest and Tours. The idea of the Story-Telling Festival was hers, and very effective, even if it was not well attended. In addition to the two festivals, other parts of Laurie’s job are to help produce the final report we must submit to the Humanities Council, to demonstrate our good stewardship of the moneys they granted us. She has been especially diligent in gathering data and collecting items and news reports pertaining to the festivals this spring. If you have clippings about Scull Shoals from your local paper, or any other paper you happened to keep, please send them right away to Laurie Sedicino, Care of Cindy Bowden, at the American Museum of Papermaking, 500 10th Street, NW, Atlanta, GA 30308-5794. Another aspect of Laurie’s job is to help design the “Traveling Trunk” education programs to go to the school classrooms, making sure they fit into Georgia educational requirements for the grades they are intended to serve. These will be offered to the teachers in the area, after a workshop on their use to be offered this fall. Archaeologist Mayer married May 21 Forest Archaeologist and Heritage Program Manager John Mayer, of the Forest Supervisor’s Office in Gainesville, and Kenley Williams were married on Saturday, May 21, 2005. Kenley was employed previously in the Supervisor’s Office as a Geographical Interpretation System (GIS) Specialist while she was a student at Gainesville College. When she received her Certificate in GIS, Kenley began to work with the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Commission, also in Gainesville. Their wedding was John’s excuse for missing the Storyfest, and he’s sticking to it. New Archaeologist - James Wittstead The Oconee District now has its own new Archaeologist! James Wittstead, his wife Judy, and their little girl moved to Athens from Missouri, and he began work on the District in mid-May. The Wittsteads came out to meet our volunteers on Saturday morning, May 21st, but could not stay for the afternoon program. James has worked with volunteer programs and PIT programs while he was District Archaeologist on the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. He looks forward to assisting the Friends of Scull Shoals, and learning more about Georgia archaeology and history. We welcome James and Judy to middle Georgia, and to the Oconee National Forest, as well as to Scull Shoals! He will be an Ex-Officio member of the Friends Board of Directors. The Forest is getting an extra bonus in that Judy is currently working on her thesis for her Master’s Degree in Anthropology and Archaeology from the University of Missouri. That school has had a strong archaeology program for more than fifty years, and her professors are some of the top-notch people in the field. Currently Judy’s primary concerns are with settling into her new home, caring for her little girl and, of course, for James. May 21st Storyfest Volunteers Special Thanks go out to the Volunteers who made the Storyfest a success for all who came. They are Curator Laurie Sedicino, Maxine Singleton, Ed Goff, Jim Ashworth, Ellen Whitaker, Joyce and Charlie Baugh, Phil Bainbridge, Peggy Sommer, Cassandra Flowers, Mayor Don Lilley, Mary Frank and Jack Wynn, Cindy Bowden, James Wittstead, Ranger Bill Nightingale, and reporter Wayne Ford of the Athens Banner-Herald. This newsletter is published by and for the non-profit Friends of Scull Shoals, Inc., P.O. Box 295, Greensboro, GA 30642. Questions? mfjtwynn@bellsouth.net Back to the top of this Page  |
