For the past 36 years storytellers from all over have been meeting in Jonesborough, TN the first weekend in October for the National Storytelling Festival. When Megan was in Lower Elementary (2nd and 3rd grade), I traveled with her and several of her classmates to the Festival. Now it turns out that the Middle School goes too! And I'll tell you, middle schoolers have a MUCH longer attention span than elementary students!
If you have never been to the Storytelling Festival, I highly recommend trying it out sometime. Jonesborough is a cute little town with artsy shops and tempting restaurants. For the festival, large, circus-like tents are erected all around the downtown area. All day long, various storytellers practice their craft in these tents. Some of the tellers have been coming for ages, and for others it is their first visit. We saw a mix of our old favorites and some we hadn't seen before. Some tellers are very animated with music and singing, while others have a more subdued style that draws you in slowly and has you sitting on the edge of your seat to see what happens next. One interesting thing that I noticed this year is that there is a common format in many of the stories. Most of them have some sort of repeating element that allows the listener to participate in some cases, or in others, to be able to anticipate some of the plot twists. I imagine that this repetitive rhythm allows storytellers to be better able to remember the story by heart.
When you accompany children (even middle school aged children, it turns out), to the Storytelling Festival, a visit to the Lollipop Shop is a requirement. They have every kind of candy that you can ever imagine (and some kinds you can't). Some kids (reportedly) burn all their spending money here, much to their parents chagrin. The girls that went with me showed some restraint, although I think they learned that the BIG swirly lollipops really are too big to finish in one go (especially after you just ate an ice cream cone!)
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