Tryon Fine Arts Center welcomes summer vacation with Stories by the Campfire, a family program in the Peterson Amphitheater on Sunday, June 8 complete with s’mores, singing with Phil & Gaye Johnson at 7 p.m. and stories with Doug Elliot at 8 p.m.
The community is invited to sing with folksingers Phil & Gaye Johnson as they play familiar songs while kids of all ages make classic s’mores with ingredients provided at the event. Roasting sticks will be available to toast marshmallows over an open fire to each individual’s liking for sandwiching in between the graham crackers and chocolate.
Phil & Gaye Johnson of Green Creek, North Carolina have lived the Southern Appalachian country music tradition as an acoustic duo for the past 30+ years. Playing multiple instruments and singing in tight harmonies, they regularly perform and teach at major events across the United States. They are three-time winners of the “most outstanding performance” award at The Asheville Mountain Dance and Folk Festival and local favorites and all venues.
After the singing and s’mores, storyteller Doug Elliot will spin stories by the fire. Elliott has performed and presented programs at festivals, museums, botanical gardens, nature centers and schools from Canada to the Caribbean. He has been a featured storyteller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn. He has lectured and performed at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and conducted workshops for the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian says of Elliot’s work, “Some stories seem to be made out of whole cloth. Others are like Tennessee quilts. They weave past, present, fact and fiction in a tight design both dazzling and unforgettable.”
This free event is open to the public and is final in the Spring series of Sunday afternoon community events to be held outside at TFAC, thanks to a Polk County Community Foundation Free Event Grant. The program will move indoors in case of rain. Please call 828-859-8322 for information or visit www.tryonarts.org .

– article submitted
by Marianne Carruth