Storytelling Circle will highlight Wyoming Discovery Days

Several word artisans will be featured at this year’s Wyoming Discovery Days festival and the Storytelling Circle is always a big hit. “Once upon a time: a Feast of Stories” is the theme for the Children’s Story Hour each day.

Val Burgess, Marilyn Braaten, Cathy Ringler, Michelle King, Ray Shaffer “Pony Express”, David Sage, Captain Lee Bennington “Pony Express”, John Gutierrez, and James Grant “The Siege of Nate Champion,” are sure to delight children of all ages.

Join Val Burgess as she tells Leonard Robinson’s story - A Long Road to Forgiveness. Leonard Robinson, was a World War II draftee and a soldier at Clark Field on the island of Luzon, in the Philippines, on December 8, 1941. He was to return home to the states in just six weeks. Instead, he fought for the duration of the war. Learn about this man whose courage and resiliency allowed him to bear the most extreme moments of life in captivity in the Pacific. Len was a survivor. And more than that, he lived free of the trauma that affected so many of his fellow soldiers. His story shares his experience and his ability to move beyond his captivity.

By the mid 1880s, Wyoming Territory was still a largely unexplored, untapped, beautiful land just begging for discovery! Claiming “Manifest Destiny,” people in the East pushed west to Oregon Territory and California. Only the “Oregon Trail” and the “Bloody Bozeman Trail” offered access to this wild country, home to the spine of America, the Rocky Mountains. But when Congress passed the Homestead Act of 1862, everything changed overnight! Come hear our own Ray Shaffer, of Thermopolis, spin the historic tale, “Horses, Wheels, Wires, & Steel: The Taming of Wyoming.”

David Sage, of Sheridan, Wyoming, joins other storytellers at Noon on Saturday and Sunday during the Children’s Story hour. Saturday David will make kids giggle during his story “A New Horn,” Sunday’s Children’s story is “Oxford the Giant.” David will also storytell on with “Snake...A Vacation Nightmare” and Sunday’s storytelling: “Danger on the Ice Pack…Inuit Survival in the Arctic.” David has been telling his original stories to audiences from 6 to 60 for more than 40 years. Each one was originally told extemporaneously first, then became part of the inventory in his head. He is still active in the Sheridan area schools.

Willie LeClair, a storyteller, who has been with the Folk Festival since its first year, passed away in 2023. In Memory of Willie’s contributions over the years, the Storytelling Circle will remember Willie and will dedicate this year’s Circle in his memory.

Wyoming Discovery Days is Saturday, August 5 and August 6 beginning at 10 a.m. Enjoy storytelling, craftsmen demonstrations, family activities, a petting zoo, prairie camp, wagon rides, pony express relays and food trucks.

The festival is open to the public without charge. Wyoming Humanities Council, and Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund have provided special funding to help with the event. There is additional funding from local and state sponsors including the public and private sector.

For a complete schedule with times, vendor check in information and sponsors, visit WyomingDiscoveryDays.org.