Thank you for supporting the 2020 Sounds of the Mountains Festival at Camp Bethel. We are not able to hold the in-person festival... BUT... We are committed to providing you with joyful entertainment during this anxious and isolated time. The tellers will record and submitting video sets, and we will compile and create FIVE fun hour-long "Shows" permanently available to watch here any time beginning April 4. One of the five shows will be specifically geared toward Elementary School students to provide over 700 3rd-4th-5th graders a substitution for their cancelled in-person field trip.
Participating performers are happy to be "with you" in this way!
Participating performers are happy to be "with you" in this way!
Please GIVE to help Camp Bethel weather significant financial losses due to COVID-19. Give to helps us pay performer fees and festival expenses already incurred. Give to ensure we can continue this festival IN PERSON for April 16-17, 2021.
Andy Offutt Irwin
With a silly putty voice, hilarious heart-filled stories, and amazing mouth noises (arguably, the greatest whistler in the world) one-person-showman, Andy Offutt Irwin is equal parts mischievous schoolboy and the Marx Brothers, peppered with a touch of the Southern balladeer. Andy’s character-filled, one-person shows and storytelling performances center around the adventures of his eighty-five-year-old-widowed-newly-minted-physician-aunt, Marguerite Van Camp, a woman who is keeping her finger on the pulse of the changing world around her as she seeks to grow – even at her advanced age – in these United States and the New South. Every show includes original songs, and of course, whistling.
Tim Lowry
Tim Lowry, aka "Sweet Tea Commentator" writes, "A well-told story is the pure cane sugar in the Sweet Tea of Life." Tim serves up a refreshing brew of historic facts, regional folk tales, and personal narratives garnished with poetic language that is never saccharine but unmistakably Southern. Tim Lowry is too irreverent for church and not nasty enough for a night club, so here he is at our Sounds of the Mountains Festival!
Regi Carpenter
For over twenty years Regi Carpenter has brought songs and stories to audiences of all ages throughout the world in schools, theaters, libraries, festivals, conferences, and in people’s back yards. An award winning performer, Regi has toured her solo shows and workshops in theaters, festivals and schools, nationally and internationally. Regi is the youngest daughter in a family that pulsates with contradictions: religious and raucous, tender but terrible, unfortunate yet irrepressible. These tales celebrate the glorious and gut–wrenching lives of four generations of Carpenters raised on the Saint Lawrence River in Clayton, New York. Tales of underwater tea parties, drowning lessons, and drives to the dump give voice to multi-generations of family life in a small river town with an undercurrent.
Kim Weitkamp
- As the redheaded child of exhausted parents, Kim Weitkamp grew up enjoying the role of the middle child. Her imagination was ripened by a life lived outdoors. She wrote and performed plays and pageants for her family, did impersonations and comedy bits for visiting guests, and frazzled her teachers with grandiose stories of her daily adventures. Kim survived numerous attempts by adults to cut and curb her rambunctious behavior and prolific imagination. Lucky us, because now we get to enjoy the wildflower heart and wonder of that little girl projected through a mature and seasoned artist. In her work as a humorist, storyteller, singer and songwriter, she has taken home an armload of awards. She has several audio collections, and she travels the continent full time performing in theaters and at festivals.
Buck Cannon
& the Atta Boys
Two duo acts, David Austin & Keith Wood and Curt Baker & Greg Honeycutt merged to form Buck Cannon & the Atta Boys. David and Keith have performed their “brother duet” style with tight vocal harmonies for over 40 years. Curt and Greg’s popular CD Straight From the Porch received radio play on Back to the Blue Ridge. Long-time friend and former Luv Buzzard, Ted McAllister, lends his lead guitar to the Atta Boys. David Austin is from Buchanan, VA (pronounced “Buck Cannon”). Get it? Good job! “Atta Boy!” Buck Cannon & the Atta Boys perform regularly at The Roanoke Fiddle and Banjo Club and other area venues, and they are “truly delighted to be a part of the 2020 Sounds of the Mountains Storytelling Festival!”
& the Atta Boys
Two duo acts, David Austin & Keith Wood and Curt Baker & Greg Honeycutt merged to form Buck Cannon & the Atta Boys. David and Keith have performed their “brother duet” style with tight vocal harmonies for over 40 years. Curt and Greg’s popular CD Straight From the Porch received radio play on Back to the Blue Ridge. Long-time friend and former Luv Buzzard, Ted McAllister, lends his lead guitar to the Atta Boys. David Austin is from Buchanan, VA (pronounced “Buck Cannon”). Get it? Good job! “Atta Boy!” Buck Cannon & the Atta Boys perform regularly at The Roanoke Fiddle and Banjo Club and other area venues, and they are “truly delighted to be a part of the 2020 Sounds of the Mountains Storytelling Festival!”
Not this year, but normally, our festival is held at Camp Bethel (in Fincastle) located in Virginia's Blue Ridge. The Jefferson National Forest adjoins our 470 acres of forests, streams, open meadows, and hiking trails. Conveniently located 5 miles off I-81 at exit 156, 10 miles north of Roanoke, we offer a beautiful spring setting for a storytelling festival. Driving directions here.
FOOD: Not this year, but normally, snacks and drinks (sodas/water, coffee) available all weekend. Friday night hot soups and fresh salads available. Saturday’s fare includes homemade soups, chili, with vegetarian options and gluten-free snacks too! Food trucks and other food vendors for Saturday lunch and dinner.
Our festival is a fundraiser for the outdoor ministries of Camp Bethel, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donations and Sponsorships are tax-deductible.
Save the Dates: April 3-4, 2020; April 16-17, 2021
FOOD: Not this year, but normally, snacks and drinks (sodas/water, coffee) available all weekend. Friday night hot soups and fresh salads available. Saturday’s fare includes homemade soups, chili, with vegetarian options and gluten-free snacks too! Food trucks and other food vendors for Saturday lunch and dinner.
Our festival is a fundraiser for the outdoor ministries of Camp Bethel, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donations and Sponsorships are tax-deductible.
Save the Dates: April 3-4, 2020; April 16-17, 2021
