Former Dogwood storytellers returning for holiday show

Not one, but three guest performers of the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival will be making their Dowagiac encores this weekend.

Southwestern Michigan College’s Dale A. Lyons theater will be the latest stop of The Brain Freeze Tour, which takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1. Storytellers Kim Weitkamp, Andy Offutt Irwin and Bil Lepp, known as the “Uncalled for Trio,” will share songs and stories with a holiday twist during the two-hour show.

“These three tour together just around the holidays, with a special show of new stories that they don’t tell during their other tours,” said Bobbie Jo Hartline, secretary for the Dogwood Festival. “We’re really lucky to have them stop here, since we don’t have any other holiday shows.”

All three of the performers have been featured artists in previous Dogwood Festivals, with Lepp visiting in 2007, Irwin in 2013, and Weitkamp during this year’s event.

The festival committee had been considering bringing the trio since last year, after Irwin mentioned he toured with a larger group during his stay, Hartline said. Following Weitkamp’s successful show in May, the committee decided to book the trio for a winter performance, with longtime Dogwood supporter Securit Metal Products sponsoring the event.

The storytellers are excited to make their return to the Dowagiac community, given the strong reception their performances during the spring festival have received from local patrons, Hartline said.

“It’s kind of fun, it’s like having a long lost friend come back to town for a little while,” she said.

As with their Dogwood shows, the storytellers’ performance will be geared toward adults, but will be appropriate for the entire family, Hartline said.

“It’s like watching ‘Toy Story,’ where you get as many jokes as your kids do,” she said.

Even people who have seen all three performers in action will be entertained by Saturday’s show, Hartline said.

“They’ll have a good time,” she said. “It will be a good show and their sides will be hurting when they leave,” she said.

Tickets for the show cost $18, and can be purchased online at www.dogwoodfinearts.org or at 269-782-1115. They will also be sold at the door.