Having a storytelling festival during Alabama’s Bicentennial Celebration and not paying tribute to Alabama’s legendary storyteller the late Kathryn Tucker Windham would be a travesty.

So the Brundidge Historical Society and the Johnson Center for the Arts have partnered to present “Remembering ‘Miss’ Kathryn” with Alabama folk artist Charlie Lucas at 6 p.m. Thursday, January 24 at the Johnson Center for the Arts.

Lucas and Windham were longtime friends and lived next door to each other on Royal Street in Selma.

The “set down,” as Lucas likes to say, is free and open to the public.

“We want people to come and enjoy the age-old art of storytelling,” said Lawrence Bowden, BHS president. “Storytelling is how we connect with each and with our past. There has been no storyteller who was more loved that Kathryn Windham.  This event is a gift to the community from the Johnson Center for the Arts and the Brundidge Historical Society.”

Windham was a featured teller at several Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festivals. She shared her Christmas stories and conducted comb concerts at two Chili Country Christmas events.

Lucas said he appreciates opportunities to share stories about his friend who went about her life in simple ways.   

“Miss Kathryn brought balance to my life and I needed balance,” Lucas said. “She came in my life to be the scale for me.”

Windham brought balance into many lives as she encouraged her audiences to practice the Four Ls – learn, listen, love and laugh. Those who do those things will be all the better for it, Windham often said. 

Lucas has shared stories about the unique friendship he shared with Windham at the We Piddle Around Theater and the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival. His stories were humorous, down-right funny and heartwarming.

Wiley White, JCA exhibition coordinator, said the JCA is proud to partner with the BHS to honor and remember Kathryn Windham through the stories of Charlie Lucas.

“Charlie has been a featured artist at the JCA and we are looking forward to having him back as a storyteller,” she said. “We’ll have light refreshments and, who knows, maybe even a comb concert. It will be a fun night and a great start to the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival on Friday and Saturday.”

Tickets for the Saturday concerts at 10 a.m. ($10) and 2 ($15) and 6:30 p.m. ($10) and are available by calling 334-685-5524 or 670-6302.

Tickets are also available at The Messenger.