“I see you once a year. You’re like family!” I said to my friend, Morgen Reynolds, at the Florida Storytelling Festival. She’d been coming with her mother every year from Montana, and this was the third year in a row.
The feeling when I saw Morgen felt so familiar. I grew up gathering every year for a family reunion during summer vacation. I have extended family scattered across several countries. Family reunion during summer vacation has become a tradition that allows the family to stay connected. We remember the old stories and tell them to the next generation; we catch up on the in-between events of our lives; and we make new memories spending time together.
For me, the Florida Storytelling Festival is like an extended family that comes together once a year for four spectacular days. We gather together to share stories, listen to featured tellers, and learn in workshops. I love to see the familiar faces and meet the new ones. We share new stories and catch up. The featured tellers get up on the stage and captivate us with folk tales, personal stories, and everything in between. Our audience of 250 to 300 gather in folding plastic chairs. (I bring a seat cushion.) We laugh together. We collectively hold our breath at the same moments. We experience the emotional journey of each story together. We recognize that we are alike even in our differences. In the end, we have been through an experience that joins us as community.
As President of the Florida Storytelling Association and part of the volunteer Board of Directors, we’ve been working on this festival for the past year. At the festival, you’ll see me running around behind the scenes. If you can get me to stay still, you might just catch me telling a story at a swap. There are so many moving parts in the logistics of organizing a festival. From the grant writing, to the hotel logistics, to choosing featured tellers, to setting up the large concert tent on the lawn…. there’s more than enough details to keep us occupied. We are like ducks floating on the lake, but our feet are constantly paddling. But in the end, we do this for family and for the beautiful art of storytelling performance that connects us all.
Join me at the Florida Storytelling Festival at the historic Lakeside Inn, Mount Dora, Florida. Come to listen, learn and tell. Celebrate the art and craft of oral storytelling. The annual event happens in the last full weekend in January.
