Tales from the Trails 2024

Once again we had a breakout crowd of over 130 friends and neighbors at the Sketchbook Brewery & Taproom on the Sunday afternoon of July 14th, 2024. In addition to our wonderful storytellers, our partners at Sketchbook, Christopher  B. Burke Engineering and the Skokie Fine Arts Commission contributed to the success of this event. If you weren’t able to be there you can still check out the stories and song from the video recording on YouTube.

The 2024 storytellers and their stories in order of appearance are listed below.

Ellen Blum Barish – “How We Roll”

Ellen Blum Barish is a longtime Skokie resident who is the author of a memoir, essay collection and contributor to several anthologies. She has told stories on numerous Chicago-area stages, is a member of the Skokie Fine Arts Commission and coaches writers working on memoir and essay collections.

Charlie Saxe – “Looking for Lincoln”

Charlie is an avid cyclist, a year-round commuter from Skokie to the Loop and is a founding organizer of the Skokie Bike Network.  He is a regular on the Grand Illinois Bike Tour during which he has learned many things he otherwise would have never thought about which inspired this story.

Jeff Balch – “A Pair of Sonnets”

Jeff has worked both odd jobs and even jobs. He holds fast to a few fundamental beliefs, such as that people generalize too much, and that when speaking and writing, dangling participles can cause confusion, and that the passive voice should be avoided, and so should run-on sentences.

Melissa Perrin – “Parenting, Attunement and the Trail”

Melissa Perrin is a clinical psychologist, consultant and storyteller. She has told on many stages including Do Not Submit, Story Sessions, Backroom Stories, Chimera Loft, First Person Live, the Evanston Library Storytelling Festival, Homewood Stores and This Much Is True.

Charlie McShane – “Freedom on Two Wheels” (Song)

I’m a bike-riding, home brewing, songwriting fool. And I wouldn’t have it otherwise. I’m a volunteer wrench monkey at The Recyclery, Roger Park’s community bike shop. You can hear more of my music at www.charliemcshane.bandcamp.com.

Avesha Michael – “Back on My Bike”

Avesha Michael is a ceramic artist, writer, storyteller and is trained in many healing arts. Avesha has performed with Stories From the Stage, RISK!, This Much is True and many other shows around Chicago. She wants chickens and goats one day, and is counting the days until she can escape the city and start a peaceful homestead.

Dan Litoff – “Paris Brest Paris”

Daniel Litoff is a doctor and cyclist. He encourages his patients to exercise and especially to ride a bike to stay young and healthy. In addition to Paris Brest Paris, he other long rides include US 1 down the California Coast, rides across Illinois (where he met his wife), and Iowa and a transcontinental trip from Washington to Virginia.  He mostly commutes by bike to work  in Chicago from Evanston and rides with bike clubs on weekends.

Sheri Reda – “The Somewhat Open Road”

Sheri Reda is a writer and performer who lives in Chicago, works a lot in Wilmette, and tells stories wherever anyone will have her. She has published numerous children’s (Scott Foresman, Perfection learning, and Childcraft, inca) and adult stories (The Examined Life Journal, Thread, Stage to Page: Chicago Storytellers and Storytellers’ True Stories About Love, by Chicago Story Press) along with poems in the award-winning Dear Human, and The Healer’s Burden

David Barish – “Tornado”

David Barish has told stories in bars, restaurants, houses of worship, golf clubs, theaters and libraries all over  the Chicago area and has ridden his bike to many of these engagements. He often commutes by bicycle to a law office in the loop where he represents injured workers.

Thank you to everyone who participated, submitted stories and came out to enjoy the event. We look forward to doing it again next year.

Tales from the Trails 2023: – look back to last year’s event.