AN ORAL HISTORY CONCERT TO BENEFIT THE MAUI STRONG FUND – EVENT PRODUCED BY HEALING STORY ALLIANCE
Burnt Into Memory: How Brownfield Faced the Fire by Jo Radner
Friday, October 13, 2023 – online
7:00-8:30pm EDT
Free Event – Donate to the Maui Strong Fund
Registration Link: https://www.simpletix.com/e/burnt-into-memory-how-brownfield-faced-the-tickets-143240
In the space of a few hours on Oct. 23, 1947, a furious wildfire destroyed almost all of the small western Maine town of Brownfield. Neighbors fought and fled the fire, then returned, determined to rebuild their community. Drawing on interviews with townspeople, letters, photographs, and newspaper reports, storyteller and folklorist Jo Radner tells an epic story of terror, courage, generosity, and hope.
Join us for an extraordinary evening of storytelling to benefit those impacted by the fires on Maui! All proceeds from this concert will go to the Hawaii Community Foundation – MAUI STRONG. The Maui Strong Fund is providing financial resources that can be deployed quickly, with a focus on rapid response and recovery for the devastating wildfires on Maui. HCF will not be collecting a fee for donations to the Maui Strong Fund; 100 percent of the funds will be distributed for community needs.
About Jo Radner, Storytelling Artist and Folklorist
Jo Radner has been studying, teaching, telling, and collecting stories most of her life, and has performed from Maine to Hawaii to Finland. She is past president of the American Folklore Society and the National Storytelling Network. After 31 years’ teaching at American University, Jo moved back to her home region of western Maine as a freelance storyteller, writer, and oral historian. Her new book, Wit and Wisdom: The Forgotten Literary Life of New England Villages, was published in June 2023.
Committed to strengthening communities by helping them find, shape, and present their stories, Jo conducts oral history projects and workshops for organizations, families, and individuals. To develop “Burnt into Memory,” she spent a year interviewing people who lived through the terrible wildfire that destroyed the western Maine town of Brownfield in 1947. She created this story to honor and celebrate those who fought and fled the fire seventy-six years ago. In this program, she will tell it as a tribute and fundraiser for the people of Maui who suffered this summer’s terrible wildfire.
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