MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WEST) -- Storyteller David Lasseter slid his fingers up and down an old washboard in front of a group of 30 kids sitting on wooden church pews Friday morning.
“But the storekeeper understood squirrel talk and said, ‘Little squirrel, all your family is gone. I bet they are having a picnic down by the bridge. Why don’t you go check?’” Lassester told the kids, with his eyes growing bigger.
The children toured Cannonsburgh Village in Murfreesboro as part of the Uncle Dave Macon Days Macon Music day camp, a new addition to the festival that provides kids with a chance to learn about old-time music, dance and crafts. They visited artisans, musicians, storytellers and cloggers.
Wodi Bird, one of the kindergarteners attending the camp, said storytelling was her favorite part of the day, as she explained the first story she heard.
“A grandpa and a grandma who needed some flour. And a bear who ate them, and the squirrel saved the people,” she said.
The children also learned about the dulcimer, a traditional instrument that instructor Shelly Graham said many of them had never seen.
“Their faces just light up when they see something new and most of them haven’t seen a dulcimer,” Graham said. “I get the pleasure of introducing them to an old Tennessee craft.”
The group later went to watch the cloggers and buck dancing. Sixth grader Jashailah Haynes, danced the steps she learned during the day camp at the festival Saturday night.
But Haynes also expressed what she thought of the the traditional dancing and music of generations past.
“They are brilliant,” Haynes said. “They learned to make music out of spoons, and out of combs and wax papers. I had a really great time today.”
Attending and participating in Uncle Dave Macon Days is something Haynes says she might do next year.