If you were not able to attend the 17th annual NCWN West picnic held Sunday in Murphy NC , I’m sorry you missed it.
Writers from Haywood County, Jackson County, Cherokee and Clay Counties, from Georgia and one visitor from Buncombe County came down.
Gary Carden, playwright, storyteller and writer, held us rapt with his talk, his reading of poetry by Jim Wayne Miller and a great story about a fish that drowned because he forgot where he came from.
Fantastic dishes of all kinds, including Peg Russell’s rum cake, a popular pumpkin pie, salads and desserts and vegetables like new potatoes and fresh green beans loaded the table.
A long list for open mic kept us later than we had planned but almost everyone who signed up had the opportunity to read. We were happy to have those who came for the first time and even happier to have those new writers and poets join Netwest.
We’re pleased to see so many attending who had first come to one of our workshops. I see future Netwest leaders in the women and men who joined us for the picnic.
As always we are pleased when our former Program Coordinators, Nancy Simpson and Shirley Uphouse are present. The Netwest Representative for the Board of Trustees of NCWN, Al Manning came and brought several people with him. JC Walkup from Canton also brought writers from her area.
My photographer was not able to come today, but Peg Russell made several pictures and I will share them on the blog as soon as I can find an easy way to do so.
As many of you know, I will be resigning as PC at the end of this year. To my surprise I was acknowledged by JC Walkup and Peggy Morse with a lovely card and gift certificate to my favorite local restaurant. They expressed appreciation for making the writers in their area feel more a part of Netwest. I am happy that our 80 members feel closer to each other and hopefully in the years to come we will share readings between counties and teachers between counties. And I hope every one of the members of Netwest will support each other and promote each other in any way possible.
Thanks to Mary Ricketson and Jerry Hobbs, Netwest representatives for Cherokee County, for hosting this year’s picnic. They deserve the appreciation of all of us. I look forward to next year’s picnic wherever it will be.
I have attended 16 of the 17 annual picnics, and
ReplyDeleteI believe our picnic last Sunday was one of the best.
It was good to see friends and good to see new faces,
I enjoyed hearing the readers. I especially enjoyed
hearing Gary Carden and Brenda Kay Ledford. The food was the best ever.
Thanks to Cherokee County for hosting this year.
Nancy Simpson
Glenda, I was so glad to hear that the picnic went so well and I'm glad that people showed you the appreciation you deserve for all you have done to put Netwest on the map. As your sister, I know how much work and time you have put into this job and how much more you wanted to do. YOu have done such a wonderful job and I hope someone will continue your good work in the future with the same dedication and enthusiasm. I know that nothing would make you happier.
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