By Adam Stewart
From the Newsroom
Talk20 Hutch concluded its 12-year run of storytelling Friday, Jan. 30, and I had the good fortune to be in the audience at the Hutchinson Public Library.
For a newspaper reporter, Talk20 was a treasure trove. I firmly believe that everyone has a story worth telling, and Talk20 brings people together to tell theirs in a way that invites further exploration, because each storyteller presents for less than seven minutes. I’ve never left Talk20 without at least a couple of new story ideas, and Friday was no different.
You can watch the whole event on Talk20’s Facebook or YouTube page, but if you only have time to watch one presenter, I recommend Christina Stropes’ “Tornado: A Love Story.” (Sorry, Brendan.) The YouTube page also has lots of individual presentations from over the years.
In no way does the end of Talk20 diminish its success over the years. Lasting 12 years and 23 installments is an impressive achievement for any community event, and that’s before considering that those 12 years included the 2017 death of co-founder Patsy Terrell and the 2020 everything about 2020.
But even that view misses the point a bit. Talk20’s mission was to gather people to share ideas and stories. And it did that. Each individual event, each individual presentation was its own success. Things don’t have to be permanent or even long-lasting to be a success. Thinking that an event, program, or project needs to be big and permanent to be a success is a mistake that we make too often.
I will miss Talk20, both personally and professionally. But I am optimistic that community members will find fun new ways to help people connect. There are lots of creative, smart, talented people in Hutchinson. Surely some of them have ideas of their own. Hopefully, a few of them read this column.
We don’t need one big thing to replace Talk20. It doesn’t need to be one singular thing, it doesn’t need to be a big thing, and it doesn’t need to replace Talk20, either. Talk20 itself wasn’t envisioned as one big thing. There is room for small experiments, and lots of them, keeping and building on the ones that people gravitate to.
You—yes, you—can carry on the vision of Talk20 for connection and sharing ideas. It could be as simple as inviting neighbors to plan a neighborhood garage sale day over doughnuts and coffee. But whatever it is, it can’t happen unless someone decides to start it.
Adam Stewart is the assistant news editor at The Hutchinson Tribune. He can be reached at adam@hutchtribune.com.