The Power of the Bison

2009-05-28

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This year's event will feature former Methodist Pastor, humorist and storyteller Bil Lepp. Lepp's outrageous, humorous tall-tales and witty stories have earned the appreciation of listeners of all ages and from all walks of life. A five-time winner of the West Virginia Liar's Contest, Lepp has been featured at the National Storytelling Festival, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and at major storytelling and corporate events across the country.

Sharing the stage with Lepp will be award-winning storyteller, recording artist and author, Dovie Thomason. An award-winning storyteller, recording artist, teacher, lecturer and author, Thomason is recognized internationally for her ability to take her listeners back to the timeless place that she first visited as a child, hearing old Indian stories from her Kiowa Apache and Lakota relatives. The tales were lessons intended to teach proper behavior without punishment or confrontation as the characters faced the same choices in their lives as she did in her own. Passing on these blueprints for establishing values and making choices comes naturally for Dovie as she gently dispels false images of Native American life.

For the 2009 musical headliner, Buffalo Commons has chosen Finders & Youngberg, two married couples playing original bluegrass, country, and folk. Mike and Amy Finders (pronounced finn-ders), and Aaron and Erin Youngberg are four distinct musicians, merging styles, songs, voices and grooves in an interplay that is exhilarating, gratifying, and often hilarious. They are young veterans of the folk and bluegrass circles, playing banjo, harmonica, bass, mandolin, pedal steel, and guitar while they sing new songs, and tell new stories.

This year's festival will also feature a new event, the Power of the Bison Bus Tour and Wild West Ride. Participants in the Friday, cross-country tour will be invited to hear tales of the old west, right where they happened. Sites visited will include the Massacre Canyon Battle Monument and the Camp Duke Alexis site of the last great buffalo hunt.