North Texas Daily

Today marks the first day of the 36th annual Texas Storytelling Festival. The virtual event begins today at 1:30 p.m. and will run until Sunday at 8:30 p.m., held via Zoom. The festival will feature Heather Forest, Eth-Noh-Tec, Donna Washington, Sam Payne and 60 storytellers, along with 17 storytelling events and seven workshops. Individuals can expect to hear ghost stories, Texas tales, liars contests, youth showcases, scared tales, story slam, music and mingle during social hours.

The first storytelling festival was held at the Denton Arts Center in 1985, and was produced by Denton storyteller Finley Stewart. A year later, the Tejas Storytelling Association (TSA) became an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Since then, the TSA quickly grew, gaining listeners from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico.

In 1997, TSA gained a second executive director, Karen Morgan, who has served as a volunteer and board member. Along with being a force in growing the festival within the Denton community, she also founded the Denton Storytelling Task Force.

TSA became an all-volunteer organization in June 2009 under Elizabeth Ellis, who was the president of the governing board at the time. She now serves as the chair of the Hot Funds committee and managing director for 2019 and 2020.

Ticket prices are $35 for TSA members and $45 for general admission.

Individuals interested in attending the festival can purchase a ticket at tejasstorytelling.com/festival/tickets/.

Courtesy Tejas Storytelling Association