35th Annual National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee

October 5 through 7 will mark the 35th anniversary of the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee. The town of Jonesborough, located in northeast Tennessee, was the birthplace of storytelling festivals. The festival is held the first full weekend in October each year and attracts more than 10,000 visitors to historic Jonesborough.

According to the National Storytelling Festival's Web site, what started as a small festival of about 60 visitors and storytellers, using hay bales and wagons as stages, has now grown to become one of the Top 100 Events in North America. Large, circus-type tents are setup in downtown Jonesborough with seating in each one. There are performances scheduled throughout the festival hours in each tent. The festival programming runs from 10 am to 10 pm Friday and Saturday and 10 am to 4:30 pm on Sunday. Each session is one hour long, with a 30 minute break in between performers. A dinner break is scheduled from 5:30 to 8:00 pm on Friday and Saturday evenings. The choice is yours as to which tent and what performers you want to listen to. If you have never attended a storytelling festival, you may want to plan to attend this festival. Some of the top storytellers in the nation will be performing at the National Storytelling Festival. The festival is something the whole family can enjoy.

Storytelling has been around since the beginning of time. Great-grandmas and grandpas would sit around on the front porch and tell stories about their grandparents or great-grandparents. These stories would be passed down to the next generation and the art of storytelling begins. These stories could be about events in their families lives or just about the history of the family. Storytellers inspired by these stories now pass them along at storytelling festivals.

The National Storytelling Festival began 30 years ago by a high school journalism teacher. The teacher, Jimmy Neil Smith, and some of his students heard Grand Ole Opry star Jerry Clower tell a tale on the radio about coon hunting in Mississippi and he decided that they could have a storytelling festival in northeast Tennessee. On an October weekend in 1973, the first National Storytelling Festival was held. The festival was small, but it was such a success that is changed the art of storytelling and the town of Jonesborough. From this small beginning, storytelling festivals have popped up all over the world. All types of people, including teachers, librarians, parents and therapists, have become storytellers. As the festival has grown articles have appeared in national magazines, such as Reader's Digest and People, as well as news reports on national television. With people across the globe discovering the art of storytelling, storytelling traditions are being reborn. Festivals such as the National Storytelling Festival are keeping this art form alive and people of all ages have discovered that storytelling is not just for the older folks to appreciate.

If you are planning on attending this year's National Storytelling Festival, you may want to plan on staying a couple of days. There are other special events planned during the festival. There will be the Midnight Caberet, which is late night entertainment for the adults and the Ghost Story Concerts. You can also enjoy an event called Youthful Voices, which is storytelling by young performers from across the nation. There will be a food court located in the heart of the festival offering bbq, pizza, stir-fry and burgers. The festival will continue rain or shine since programming is done inside the tents. Please remember that pets are not allowed on festival grounds except for those used to aid the handicapped.

For more information about the National Storytelling Festival and directions to Jonesborough, you can visit their website at www.storytellingcenter.com. The website will give you ticket information, event schedules and a festival map.

Source:
http://www.storytellingcenter.com