Storyteller profile: Jerry Ford

For the first time this year the Cape Girardeau Storytelling Festival, this Friday through Sunday, will give local tellers an opportunity to perform. Jerry Ford of Cape Girardeau is one of about a dozen local tellers who will participate in the new "Swapping Ground" feature at noon Saturday in the Merriwether Street tent.

He'll be sharing a story from his new book, "The Gordonville Grove: Stories of Tombstones, Tambourines and Tammany Hall," due to be released this fall by Southeast Missouri State University Press. It includes 75 funny stories about things that have happened to Ford over the years while working as a musician, politician and mortician.

A second Swapping Ground session will take place at 3:30 p.m. Tickets for the Cape Girardeau Storytelling Festival may be purchased online at www.capestorytelling.com or by calling 800-777-0068. For more information, visit semissourian.com/capesf.