Unfortunate fall on The Gilmer Mirror parking lot on April 11 has kept me bedridden at home, hospitalized at ETMC Gilmer, and, at this writing, in the Clairmont at Longview.

My rehabilitation, from a fractured sacrum, is expected to be slow, but between overdosing on TV, reading newspapers and magazines, and calling “near and far” on my cell phone, I don’t feel out of touch.

Browsing the May-June issue of the AAA members magazine, Texas Journey, I turned to page 52 and was greeted by a familiar face — Jo Ann Andera, director of the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio (as Mirror readers know, a Yamboree delegation has taken part in each festival since the first one in 1972).

She’s pictured in living color at a table laden with ethnic foods sold by festival participants. No yam pie? Not in the picture, but not left out either.

In the interview story, Jo Ann is asked about her favorite festival food. Her reply: “If you like to eat, this is the place to be. Some popular dishes are the Wendish noodles, yam pie and Lebanese shish kebab, I couldn’t choose a favorite.”

Jo Ann started working for the Folklife Festival sponsor, the Institute of Texan Cultures, in 1970. Lebanese herself, she started out performing in a dance group. As director, she has a different perspective on how much work it takes to put on the annual show.

She explains: “You hear the phrase Folklife Festival, and you assume we’re talking about a small-town community event. But our festival is done on a huge scale. We have 10 stages spaced around 20 acres. Performers in authentic regalia represent more than 40 cultures.”

Because the Upshur County group is one of the few that has taken part in every Folklife Festival, it ranks high with the director. Jo Ann came to the Yamboree in the 1990s and marched in the Queen’s Parade with Possumologist “Dr.” Richard Potter and International Possum Queen “Miss Daisy” Potter.

The other founding father of Possumology “Professor” Jack F. (Spot) Baird had sadly passed from the scene by then. Potter, too, has since gone on.

But this June 12-14 the Yamboree delegation will hold forth once more at its familiar spot on the Back 40 of the Institute grounds.

I’ll be there in spirit.

sgreene@tatertv.com

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