Cleveland Storytelling Guild serves up tales with imagination

Don't expect all the details to be filled in at the Cleveland Storytelling Guild's Warm Stories & Hot Cider event tonight.

That's what imaginations are for, said member Judy Baker.

"Storytelling has been around for centuries," she said. "It's probably our oldest art form. It's oral tradition. It's a way of communicating."

The annual event, which has been held at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Cleveland for nearly 10 years, will feature various local and regional storytellers -- all members of the Cleveland Storytelling Guild -- plying their craft.

During the stories, which will be offered in the fellowship hall, attendees can sip hot cider provided by the congregation.

Among the tellers are Bobbye Schroeder, Sylvia Idom, Owen Duncan, Judy Baker, Maurine Olin, Bruce Hopson and Finn Bille.

Baker said children are not developing their imaginations as they should today and would benefit from hearing more stories.

She said when she tells the story "Jack Gets a Job" to fourth-graders, she asks the fourth-graders at the end to provide facts about Jack, then asks them why she is asking them to do that.

Eventually, Baker said, someone suggests that she wants them to figure it out.

"That's why [they're] so rich," she said. In stories, "we try not to tell what to think or what someone looks like unless we need to."

Baker said the stories may be funny, heartwarming or a bit of both.

"I love doing this after the holidays," she said. "Everybody can come out of the cold and have some cider and hear some wonderful stories."