Smoky Mountains Storytelling Festival Starts Spinning Yarns June 4

The Smoky Mountains Storytelling Festival promises three days of tall tales, scheduled for June 4-6 in Pigeon Forge. This event is in its 18th year and is promising some of the best storytelling yet. Some of the speakers include a genuine possumologist, a keeper of Cherokee creation stories, a storytelling school principal and an Oklahoman poet who does a unique retelling of “Ben Hur.”

In addition to the festival's professional storytellers will be the tale-telling talent of the National Youth Storytelling Showcase. None of the youths are more than 17 years of age, and are from all over the country.

Many of the stories told during this year’s festival will honor Appalachia and the Great Smoky Mountains. Accordingly, this year’s event is on the official event list of the 75th Anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains. The festival is also on the Southeast Tourism Society’s “Top 20 Events in the Southeast.”

Featured storytellers:

+ Lloyd Arneach—A Cherokee storyteller who learned his first legends from two storytelling uncles on the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina.

+ Donald Davis—A native Appalachian storyteller who performs nationally and teaches workshop that focus on family-based storytelling.

+ Doug Elliott—A storyteller, herbalist and naturalist who sings about catfish, pontificates about possums and plays a mean harmonica.

+ Todd Elliott—Doug’s son and a two-time participant in the National Youth Storytelling Showcase who now is following in his father’s footsteps.

+ Andy Offutt Irwin—A Georgia public radio show host who says he used to have real jobs before becoming a professional storyteller.

+ Kent Rollins—A genuine cowboy from Oklahoma, who also is a poet, chuckwagon cook and humorist (he’s the one with the watermelon and bra).

+ Elizabeth Rose—Principal of Cherokee Middle School in Roane County, Tenn., who blends southern folklore with fairy tales, ghost stories and international legends.

Three late-night programs (9:30-11 p.m.) augment the regular sessions. A Haunts and Haints ghost story session is Thursday, a tribute to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is Friday and a memorial to legendary mountain storyteller Ray Hicks is Saturday.

All Smoky Mountain Storytelling Festival events are held at the Belz Outlet Mall in Pigeon Forge. Three Day admission is $25, while one day admission is $10. The event is FREE for youths 17 years and younger. The late-night sessions are $5.