Workshop offers insight to potential town criers

Seven people sat upstairs in the American Queen room of the Dockside Consignment Center Thursday night to hear an insider's tips on how to become a successful town crier.

On the eve of the competition, Redmond O'Colonies, American Champion Crier, reminded potential participants to have fun.

"We promote good reading, writing and speaking," he said.

The more creative the content of the cry, the better the cry will be, O'Colonies said. The content of the cry is up to the contestants to write.

The participants are encouraged by O'Colonies to think outside of the here and now and take a different perspective on their crying topics.

The two topics are the Southeast Missourian newspaper on the occasion of its 100th birthday and Cape Girardeau from an 1803 perspective.

O'Colonies said "oyez" is the traditional cry opening, not "hear ye" or "extra." Those are Hollywood's rendition of a crier.

Cries must be between 100 and 125 words and a copy of the cry must be given to the judges before performing. The three oyezs and the closing do not count, and the date only count as one word.

Contestant names will be drawn out of a hat to determine their order for both of the two cries.

The competition will take place at 4 p.m. Friday.

ameyer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127