Back in the Day at Poe Park

Last Saturday, I headed north to “Back in the Day at Poe Park,” a Bronx storytelling and music festival. A two block walk from the # 4 train, and one block from the D train, the event was organized by the Five Boro Story Project, a city wide effort lovingly founded and led by Bridget Bartolini. Bridget grew up listening to her grandparents tell tales of their past on the Upper East Side where high rents forced them out to the “boonies,” South Richmond Hill, Queens. Their tellings inspired her to create a platform for unheard stories of the city to dispel negative stereotypes of the outer boroughs. So  I went to the Bronx to hear a couple of good ones and knock around some pesky notions I learned about the da Bronx from “Car 54, Where Are You?”

It was a terrific story & music show, with fine tellers and narrator songsmiths giving life lessons on what the Bronx means to them. A large audience gathered and for two hours we were all back in the park. Edgar Allan would have been pleased. And by the way, he wrote Annabel Lee in the cottage you see here. Follow the Five Boro Story Project and get three free credits in New York City history from the school of storytelling knowledge.