Storytelling Festival Fundraiser to be Held in Wytheville

WYTHEVILLE, Va. – The Presbyterian Home of the Highlands, Inc., is hosting the Molly Copes’ “Back to the Mountains” storytelling festival on June 6-7.
The fundraising event is being held at the 89-acre campus at Wytheville, 425 Grayson Road, off U.S. Highway 21-South.
Performers coming to the event include David Holt, Sheila Kay Adams, Jim Lloyd, Anndrena Belcher, and Mack and Joan Swift.
Ghost stories are scheduled for June 6, 7 p.m., along with a special children’s story time.
Activities run 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 7 with each tent featuring a storyteller.
Local musicians are also scheduled to perform.
Expect to find food concessions, festival T-shirts and a chance to meet each of the storytellers. Hayrides are also being offered.
Holt and Adams are both regular performers at the National Storytelling Festival, held each October in Jonesborough, Tenn.
A native of Texas, Holt is both a musician and a storyteller, known to spin yarns like a spider spins webs.
From Monroe County, N.C., Adams tells stories about her family and her life in the mountains.
The event is being held as a fundraiser for the Home of the Highlands, a residential facility providing both emergency and long-term care to boys and girls ages 5-17.
The home, at the edge of Wytheville, is licensed by the Virginia Department of Social Services, and since 1919 has cared for abused, neglected and battered children in the Appalachian region of Virginia.
“Back to the Mountains” is dedicated to Molly Copes, the board member who suggested coming up with the storytelling festival fundraiser idea and inviting such local talents as Lloyd, a bluegrass musician and barber in Rural Retreat.
Copes, who died as the festival was being planned, served as moderator of the church and public relations committee, hosted fundraising dinners and was a professional storyteller.
A West Virginia native, Copes was a retired schoolteacher who lived in Yorktown, Va.

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YOU SHOULD KNOW
What: Molly Copes’ “Back to the Mountains” Storytelling Festival
Where: Presbyterian Children’s Home of the Highlands, 425 Grayson Road (U.S. Highway 21-South)
When: June 6, 7-9 p.m.; and June 7, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tickets: $25 for adults (18 and older); $15 for students (ages 6-18); and free for preschoolers.
Info: (276) 228-2681 or (800) 987-0301
Web: http://pchh.org