THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610180229
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY REBECCA MYERS CUTCHINS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 96 lines
JENNIFER CROWE and Susan Taylor Hansen spend about a half-hour each morning jogging through Olde Towne and, as Crowe puts it, ``attempting to come up with solutions to all the world's problems.''
It was during one of these jaunts that the two discussed the possibility of inviting the hearing-impaired to the next Olde Towne Ghost Walk. Hansen is a former Ghost Walk chairperson; Crowe is a volunteer in her fourth year of recruiting actors for the event.
A sign-language interpreter could be hired to lead a group of hearing-impaired visitors along the route, they surmised, and each ghost story could be signed as it is being told.
The idea will be put to the test at Friday night's Ghost Walk, a one-mile trek through Olde Towne that includes about 10 stops for ghost stories.
It would be too expensive to put sign-language interpreters at each stop, so a single tour for the hearing-impaired is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
``We have no idea how many will show because this is the first time we've ever done anything like this,'' Crowe said. ``I'm hoping we'll have enough people to do a tour.''
Organizers have publicized the tour in a newsletter published by the Tidewater Area Hearing-Impaired Association and have asked that the word be spread through the Endependence Center, a Norfolk-based organization that promotes independent living for people with disabilities.
The group is being asked to meet at the gate of Trinity Episcopal Church, 500 Court St., at least 15 minutes prior to the 7:30 p.m. tour.
For the past 15 years, the Ghost Walk has been the most profitable fund-raiser of the Olde Towne Civic League. The walk brings in about $9,000 annually, with about one-third spent to put on the event itself.
``The biggest ticket item is paying the actors and the Civil War re-enactment teams,'' said Alan Gollihue, chairman of the walk. Each of the 15 actors receives $75 for about four hours of storytelling.
``That's slave wages considering they tell their stories maybe 50 times,'' said Hansen, who is helping to coordinate the event. Profits from the event usually are funneled back to the community through donations to area churches and charities, as well as beautification efforts.
This year, however, the money will be used to help refurbish the London Boulevard house bought by the Olde Towne Civic League in a public-private partnership with the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Because the Ghost Walk draws nearly 2,500 people to Olde Towne each year, Gollihue recommends that tickets be purchased in advance to reduce the wait in line. About 800 tickets, at $5 each, are being sold per one-hour block of time between 7 and 10 p.m. Children not old enough to walk are admitted free. There will be no rain date and no refunds.
Any leftover tickets will be sold at the gate the night of the walk, which begins in the cemetery of Trinity Episcopal Church at High and Court streets. ``We wanted to minimize the waiting in line as much as we could,'' Hansen said. ``We can't totally eliminate it, but by selling tickets for specific times and limiting the number of tickets that we sell, it sort of ensures that everybody has a nicer evening.''
The first Ghost Walk, held in 1981, drew about 700 people. Attendance hit an all-time high of 2,400 in 1994. Many who come are repeat customers, despite the fact that the stories remain basically the same from year to year. Hansen likens it to seeing ``The Nutcracker'' at Christmastime.
``I do think people come back because a lot of them like to hear the same stories over again,'' she said. ``... But then again, some people come back to see what we've done new, too. It's sort of a blend.'' ILLUSTRATION: File photos
Rod Suiten plays the groundskeeper who went fishing in the same
ghost story, year after year.
Judy McGinley, left, Ann Marie Myers and Lisa Apperson played
characters in the ghost tale told in the courtyard of Trinity
Episcopal Church back in 1985.
File photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Dean Burgess still scares folks with his stories by the Civil War
Cemetery off High Street.
Graphic
TICKET SALES
Ghost Walk tickets can be purchased for a specific time, at
one-hour intervals between 7 and 9 p.m., from these locations:
Dr. Sidney W. Tiesenga, Orthopaedics of Churchland, 110 American
Legion Road, Churchland.
Art Jones Travel Service, 418 Market St., Suffolk.
Portside Visitors Center, 6 Crawford Parkway.
Ports Events, Signet Bank Building, 355 Crawford St.
Olde Towne Gallery, 341 High St.
Mary Perkins' Gifts & Apparel, 1610 Hilltop West, Virginia Beach;
329 W. 21st St., Norfolk; 701S N. Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake;
3130-A Western Branch Blvd., Chesapeake; Coliseum Crossing Shopping
Center, Hampton.
Pfeiffer's Books, 434 High St.
1846 Museum Gift Shop, High and Court streets.
For more information, call 398-4661 or 399-5487. by CNB