Where: Various locations throughout the historic district of Philadelphia
Who: All ages
Our view: Scattered throughout the historic district of Philadelphia, there are ten storytelling benches. When you sit on one of these benches a storyteller will tell you a historic story about America. If you think that these stories are the same old stories of the American Revolution that you have heard before, think again. Some of the stories do take place during the revolutionary war. However, most likely all of the stories are ones you have never heard before. That is part of what makes them so interesting and fun to listen to. The other thing that makes them so fun is how much the actors/storyteller get into the stories they are telling. They are more than telling a story; they are acting out a one person play. Another aspect that makes the stories fun for kids is that at the first storytelling bench they are given a flag with 13 stars for the original 13 colonies and a sticker to put on one star. As you travel around to the other storytelling benches, they will be given more stickers to put on their flag. Once they have all their stars covered with stickers, they can get a free ride on the carousel at Franklin Square (we will be talking more about Franklin Square in future posts). Even though you do have to walk from storytelling bench to storytelling bench none of them is all that far from any of others although at times with young children and/or if it is really hot, they might feel like they are. However, the walk is still worth it because the storytelling benches are lot of fun. The storytelling benches are open from June 10 - August 16, Tuesday through Saturday from 11-4, August 22-30 Friday and Saturday 11-4, and August 31 and September 1 from 11-4. The first bench is at the Independence Visitor Center located at 6th and Market Street. If you plan to get to them all in one day, we would recommend starting right at 11 AM when they open because it might take some time to get to them all. The Once Upon a Nation Storytelling benches are a part of Historic Philadelphia, and they are completely free. For more information go to http://historicphiladelphia.org/day/storytelling-benches/once-upon-a-nation/storytelling-benches.
And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for more about the Once Upon a Nation Storytelling Benches.
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