The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year and we’ve asked some of our returning tellers to share some of their memories of the festival, give some advice to our up-and-coming tellers, and tell us about the timelessness of tales. One teller that has been with us from the beginning is Donald Davis and here he shares a bit of his unique perspective on the festival and how he was first introduced to it.
“My best memory is of being at the Jonesborough Festival and meeting these three ladies from Utah. Their “leader,” (Karen) told me they were going to have a festival the next year and asked me if I could come out there Labor Day weekend.
I checked my calendar and it was filled. Karen then asked if I could come the next year. We wrote it on the calendar and it was done.
Later I learned that no one back in Utah was aware that she had decided to start a festival, but she was already booking tellers for the first two years. This told me more about her determination and leadership than I could have learned any other way.
My advice to beginning tellers: tell stories anywhere you can. You don’t invite yourself to someone else’s party, but if you keep on and do a good job, you will get invited when the time is right.
Storytelling is timeless because it preserves our deepest identity. Who we are is revealed in and preserved by our stories.”
Thank you, Donald, for helping us to grow the festival from it’s humble beginnings, just a kernal of an idea really, into what it is today. We couldn’t have done it without you.