• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds




Reminder: Flatwater Festival, Flatwater Tales this weekend

Posted at 4:15 pm June 1, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Ridge City Ramblers perform at the Flatwater Festival in 2017. (Photo courtesy Flatwater Festival)

Ridge City Ramblers perform at the Flatwater Festival in 2017. (Photo courtesy Flatwater Festival)

 

Reminder: The second Flatwater Festival presented by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge will be held from noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday, June 2, at Melton Lake Park.

And the Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival, which will feature three world renowned storytellers, has events on Friday and Sunday. It is the first storytelling festival in the Oak Ridge area.

Organizers said the Flatwater Festival on Saturday will include bands, beer, boat races, and bounce houses; wine, water, and soda; and face painting, food vendors, and fun for all, including corn hole games.

New this year is a team-building regatta featuring up to 20 boats. It will be held from 12:30 to 5 p.m. in collaboration with the Oak Ridge Rowing Association. A “build a boat” race by participants who make their own cardboard boats ahead of time will be held at 5 p.m.

In addition, the festival at Melton Lake Park is sandwiched between the Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival events on Friday, June 1, at the University of Tennessee Arboretum and Sunday, June 3, at the Oak Ridge Playhouse.

Advertisement

The three-day festival will be a fundraiser for the three Rotary clubs’ community service projects, including four new benches for the Oak Ridge waterfront in 2018, a press release said.

The bands playing will be the Ridge City Ramblers, 101 Degrees in the Shade, Mt. LeConte Jug Band, Jubal with Taylor Kress, Unnamed, Osborne-Krause Duo, and Little Engine.

B&B Barbeque and other food vendors will sell barbecue, hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, and ice cream. Beer, wine, soft drinks, and “flat” water will also be sold, the press release said.

A supervised play area with two bounce houses and an obstacle course will entice kids, as will face painting. Cornhole games will be available again this year for kids and adults, the press release said.

To learn about the rules for building cardboard boats, contact Dean Cheatham at [email protected].

The festival entrance fee is $5 per adult, $2 per child, and $20 for a large family.

For more information on the Flatwater Festival, visit www.flatwaterfestival.com.

The Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival, which will feature the three world renowned storytellers, is a major addition to the 2018 Flatwater Festival, organizers said. It will be an annual event sponsored by the three Rotary Clubs in Oak Ridge, all volunteers, as part of the Flatwater Festival weekend.

Bil Lepp, Tim Lowry, and Minton Sparks will perform for this inaugural festival. They have achieved national and international recognition and appear regularly at festivals, including the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, the press release said.

Advertisement

As reported earlier, Flatwater Tales kicks off on Friday, June 1, with a three-hour interactive writing workshop, “Create Your Own Story,” with Minton Sparks. The goal is to help participants discover their own stories from their family history and experiences, structure their stories, and share them with others. The workshop is being held in a serene woodland setting at the auditorium in the University of Tennessee Arboretum in Oak Ridge. No previous writing or performing experience is needed.

On Sunday, June 3, the Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival presents the art and magic of live storytelling with two performances, 2 to 5 p.m. and 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., with different stories at each session. Held at the Oak Ridge Playhouse, it is an Oak Ridge 75th Birthday event. Although the stories would be rated PG, since each show is a three-hour performance with two intermissions, it is not suitable for children under 10.

Making a special guest appearance to open the first Flatwater Tales will be Kiran Singh Sirah, president of the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough.

A portion of the proceeds will go to the Flatwater Tale’s inaugural Community Partner, the Blossom Center for Childhood Excellence.

“The Festivals’ goals are to help bring our community together, introduce people to Oak Ridge, support local economic activity, and raise funds for the clubs’ community projects, “said Emily Jernigan, Flatwater Tales chair and former Breakfast Rotary president. “We expect to grow Flatwater Tales to include local and regional lore, music, and history, and to help share the Oak Ridge story—past, present, and future—with a wider audience. We want to expand our storytelling training to include helping children find their voices using this age-old art form.”

Tickets are now on sale at the Ferrell Shop in Oak Ridge and on the Festival’s Facebook page and website, www.flatwatertales.com. For more information on Flatwater Tales, visit their website or email [email protected].

Learn more about the Flatwater Festival weekend in this story.

Visit www.flatwatertales.com for more information about event times for the Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival, the storytellers, and ticket costs. You can also learn more about the Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival in this story.

More information will be added as it becomes available.


Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

Copyright 2018 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Filed Under: Community, Entertainment, Food, Music, Nonprofits, Recreation, Sports, Writing Tagged With: Bil Lepp, Emily Jernigan, Flatwater Festival, Flatwater Tales Storytelling Festival, Melton Lake Park, Minton Sparks, Oak Ridge Playhouse, Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge, storytelling festival, Tim Lowry, University of Tennessee Arboretum

Advertisements

 

Join the club!

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

Commenting Guidelines

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.

More Community News

Update on downtown Oak Ridge Tuesday

A city official will give an update on the proposed development of downtown Oak Ridge during a lunchtime meeting Tuesday. The presentation will be led by Wayne Blasius, director of the Oak Ridge Planning and … [Read More...]

Experience world cultures at Children’s Museum International Festival

Flamenco, Irish, and Greek dancers will be among entertainers at the International Festival on Saturday, February 26, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. A special guest from Ireland, musician and singer Fionan Casey, … [Read More...]

Expungements to be discussed March 1

A partner in a Knoxville law firm will discuss conviction expungement during a virtual talk sponsored by an Oak Ridge organization March 1. The information about expungement will be presented by Wade V. Davies, … [Read More...]

Breakfast with Legislators on Feb. 28

The first Breakfast with the Legislators this year is scheduled for Monday morning, February 28. The breakfast will be virtual, and it scheduled from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. It has been organized by the League of Women … [Read More...]

Supreme Court justice to discuss WWII POWs

Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Sharon Lee will discuss the compelling stories of five American soldiers captured and held as prisoners of war by the Germans during World War II during a lunchtime meeting next week, a … [Read More...]

More Community

More Entertainment News

ORHS Masquers presents ‘Into the Woods’

Oak Ridge High School Masquers, the school’s extracurricular drama program, is presenting "Into the Woods," the Stephen Sondheim musical based on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tales, in four performances this … [Read More...]

Oak Ridge names first honorary poet laureate

The City of Oak Ridge has named Erin Elizabeth Smith as its first honorary poet laureate. Smith will serve in this role for a two-year period, a press release said. "In this role, she will inspire and promote literacy … [Read More...]

Experience world cultures at Children’s Museum International Festival

Flamenco, Irish, and Greek dancers will be among entertainers at the International Festival on Saturday, February 26, at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. A special guest from Ireland, musician and singer Fionan Casey, … [Read More...]

Four qualifiers win at songwriters competition

Locals, visitors, and music industry leaders met for a celebration and songwriting competition for East Tennessee songsmiths at Tennessee Songwriters Week’s qualifying round in Oak Ridge on Wednesday. "A slew of … [Read More...]

Friends of Library Book Sale this weekend

A book sale organized by Friends of the Oak Ridge Public Library continues this weekend through Sunday. The FOL Winter Book Sale is at the Oak Ridge Public Library. Saturday, February 5, is Half-Price Sale Day from … [Read More...]

More Entertainment

Recent Posts

  • Rocky Top woman pleads guilty to murder, sentenced to life
  • REAC/TS welcomes new team members: John Crapo, Josh Hayes and David Quillen
  • NASA Postdoctoral Program seeks early career and senior scientists for prestigious fellowships at its locations across the U.S.
  • ORAU names Brandon Criswell associate general counsel
  • Update on downtown Oak Ridge Tuesday
  • TVA has virtual open house for Clinch River Nuclear Site
  • Science and supercomputers at ORNL topic of Mar. 8 talk
  • First Presbyterian offers free meals & groceries on Mar. 10
  • Secret City Academy student charged with terrorism after alleged shooting, bomb threats
  • ORHS Masquers presents ‘Into the Woods’

Search Oak Ridge Today

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2022 Oak Ridge Today