PORT TOWNSEND — If you’re longing for the secrets of the sea, then tonight’s First Friday StoryNight at 7 will whet your salty appetite.
Featured teller for the evening at the Port Townsend Friends Meeting House, 1841 Sheridan St., will be Capt. Dano Quinn, a four-time winner of the annual Seattle’s Stories of the Sea competition.
Suggested donation is $10.
The hatches will be battened down for Quinn’s presentation, “A Sea Dog’s Salty Stories — Yarns Tall and True from 35 Years at Sea.”
Quinn grew up in New England as part of a big family with a strong oral story tradition.
“I started my seafaring career sailing schooners out of Mystic, Conn., crisscrossing a good portion of the globe during a 15-year stint on tall ships. Since settling down in Seattle, I’ve run yachts, both power and sail, as well as small cruise ships throughout the maritime waters of Pacific Northwest and along the West Coast,” Quinn said.
Naturally, his stories have a strong taste of the sea, spun uniquely through weaving original humorous yarns in a ballad style.
“Knitting together fact and fantasy, truths and tales, you’ll never know what is real and what is a Fig Newton of my imagination,” he said.
He has released a storytelling CD, “Slightly Salty,” a winner of the Northwest Folklife Festival Liar’s Contest, and has been a shanty song leader on several occasions in Port Townsend.
A taste of his telling can be heard at www.inthetote.com/dano-quinn.html or visit https://www.facebook.com/dano.quinn.3.
Chris Gilbert, a singer-storyteller active in the formation and growth of the guild, will be the evening’s master of ceremonies.
Up to six attendees participate in the story swap that follows the featured teller; participants should sign up on arrival to share a story, song or poem of no more than five minutes.
Gilbert will close the evening with song-stories reflecting the evening’s theme.
First Friday StoryNight is a monthly community exploration of the art and ritual of the oral tradition through sharing of old myths, folktales, fairy tales, family, personal and modern stories.
The Quimper Storytelling Guild continues the event’s legacy established by Brian Rohr in 2009 and stewarded through 2017 by Aimee Ringle. Friends Meetinghouse is quite conducive for oral storytelling with its raised stage, acoustics and theater-style seating. The Guild also hosts a Third Sunday StoryCrafting at the Port Townsend Library at 2:30 p.m. for aspiring and experienced tellers to develop and enhance their craft.
For more information, go to www.facebook.com/ QuimperStoryGuild/, email QuimperStoryGuild@gmail.com or call 360-316-9600.
