What I take from this photo is that I have been doing this for such a long time! Notice the TV on the rolling cart on the left side? Yeah… I am THAT old! Max actually gets name dropped in this one AND the first time my BRTT hat shows up! I started making those hats early on and still wear some of those to this day!

Back in 2006 I was honored to do a show in the James Library in East Freetown. I still have that sweater and, with alterations, sill make appearances to this day when the weather gets chilly around autumn.

I love the crowd shots. I love seeing when the parents are even laughing along. Those are my favorites! Another image featuring Max – the puppy I never really use anymore. It makes me feel like I should bring the bug guy out of retirement.

Sorry the image scanned crooked.

I have had quite a few people come up to tell me that they are/were my biggest fans or “Big Ryan groupies”. It is quite the honor to hear people express just how much my stories meant to their childhood. It will never get old hearing about the times I visited their school, their library or even their birthday!

These two guys are now grown adults and I see them on social media from time to time, but I performed at their birthday parties from ages 4-8 or 9 years old! It was awesome!

Some of my fondest memories are telling stories at the places that I would visit as a child! The library was built when I was still in Highschool and I can still remember walking to the library from school to research my projects. Being able to now visit and tell my tales? That’s just an honor!

Back in the day, the Independence Mall – now the Kingston Collection – was such a great place to be! They used to release a newsletter called “S’Mall Talk” and I was featured in it for doing a show during April Vacation. I have told stories at the mall many times and I have to say, this was probably my favorite time.

Macy’s lasted the longest at the Kingston Collection as an anchor store. During it’s time, I took part in their event “Shop for a Cause” for many years. It was interesting as they usually placed me in the walkway outside of the children’s department. Makes sense, right? Except that the intimate apparel section was on the other side of that walkway.

So, I was telling my tall tales between kid’s clothes and lingerie!

This was a visit to my actual elementary school – the one I was a student in all those years ago! I was trying out a new story called Pumpkinstein – one that I have since retired. It wasn’t that it didn’t totally work, honestly it was more the run time of the story. My longest story is ‘Timmy” which runs 20+ minutes and is meant for older elementary kids. Pumpkinstein ran about 35 minutes and was geared to a younger audience.

No amount of editing could fix it, even though I remember these children enjoying the story, it was just too long and too much story. Thank you to 2001 Ms. Lacava for allowing me to test out my new material!

I was blessed to be the inhouse entertainer for over a decade for the George Mitchell Elementary School for over a decade! I still miss going to this school and hope to get to go back in the future!

This was an illustration done by the art teacher, Mr. P, when he was still a 3rd grade teacher. I loved being able to visit for a week, seeing the same teachers year after year, and catching up with friends.

Just a day after Old Colony posted the first picture of me, the Halifax Reporter then gave me a glorious front-page pic and even, finally, attributed me with Big Ryan’s Tall Tales! Love this pic, love this moment! I love it even more reliving it 22 years later! I still remember this day and even that moment. I still visit this library almost yearly and look forward to it every time!