 Ellis will also appear at the Mount Pulaski Grade School on Friday
morning, portraying a childhood friend of Lincoln's, and at the
Mount Pulaski High School in the afternoon, portraying poet Walt
Whitman.At the courthouse on Saturday, complimentary refreshments
will be provided from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., including a serving of the
famous Mary Todd Lincoln almond cake -- researched, baked and
donated by Mike Richner and his Hilltop Catering Service. Also in
the courthouse on Saturday, there will be children activities from 1
to 3:30 p.m.: a scavenger hunt of interesting courthouse items;
games; and crafts, including making Lincoln stovepipe hats,
valentines and drawing on special "Magic Scratch" paper, which
renders different unsuspected colors.
Ellis is nationally known for his "most effective first-person
stories," says Michael E. Quine, past director of the Illinois River
Road National Scenic Byway and the Great Rivers director for the
Nature Conservancy. Ellis has traveled far and wide gathering
research for his personalities, once traveling to Italy to research
St. Francis of Assisi in the priest's hometown.
He performs for schools, colleges, professors, doctors, lawyers
and basically any group who might connect with one of his historical
characters. John James Audubon, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Darwin and
a Mississippi riverboat pilot who knew Samuel Clemens are a few of
his characters.
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Ellis is a professional storyteller, environmental educator,
museum consultant and "riverlorian" for the Spirit of Peoria
riverboat.
His love for nature, fishing and Midwest farm ponds grew from
many adventures with his father, such as portrayed in his book, "The
Web at Dragonfly Pond." After listening to kids at camp whine about
mosquitoes, he started telling this story in order to convey on a
visceral level how all things in nature are important and how we
humans are actively engaged in the web of life, even being food for
mosquitoes.
[Text from news release received from
Phil Bertoni]
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