The result, “Tales Beneath Timp,” depicted an old storyteller telling to mystical characters at the foot of the majestic Mt. Timpanogos mountain. The old storyteller has come to symbolize the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival.
Ashton went on to convince businesses in the valley that a storytelling festival would help raise funds for a children’s library and bring quality entertainment to the area. The resulting sponsorships made the event affordable and ensured that dollars raised at the festival would help support the library.
In the meantime, the Friends continued to plan and promote an event they didn’t fully comprehend. In preparation, they pitched tents that blew over with the first gusts of wind before letting a professional company set up sturdy ones. They asked three professional storytellers to join local tellers and enlisted the help of local musicians to play between storytelling hours.
Then, after not knowing if anyone but their families would come, the Festival was underway. It was happy. It was fun. And it helped those who attended realize that they, too, had stories that needed to be shared with family and friends. And that, as they say, was only the beginning.
(Click here to read more about our history.)