Also, watch for more details about the 2nd Annual Michigan Story Festival
Fundraiser

From telling stories of Lake Wobegon to tales of his Aunt Eva, Garrison Keillor enthralled a sellout crowd at the Plachta Auditorium on Thursday, November 30, 2004. Keillor's appearance at CMU was to raise money for the Michigan Story Festival, a collaboration among CMU, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, and the Mount Pleasant Community.

Born in 1942 in Anoka, Minn., Keillor began his radio career as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, where he graduated in 1966. He went to work for Minnesota Public Radio in 1969, and on July 6, 1974, he hosted the first broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion" in St. Paul. The show ended in 1987, resumed in 1989 in New York as "The American Radio Company," returned to Minnesota, and in 1993 resumed the name "A Prairie Home Companion." Each week 2.6 million listeners on more than 450 public radio stations hear the show, which is aired at 6 p.m. Saturdays and noon Sundays on the CMU Public Radio network.

"I don't think we could have found a more appropriate and delightful person in the whole nation to lead our fundraiser for the Michigan Story Festival than Garrison Keillor," said Sue Ann Martin, dean of the College of Communication and Fine Arts. "His marvelous career has been built on the celebration of story. He is the best known storyteller in the country today with the great popularity of his public radio programs and his stories, yarns and tales from Lake Wobegon."

Photos courtesy of CMU Public Relations & Marketing