UNA To Host Second Annual Front Porch Storytelling Festival

Apr. 5, 2012

FLORENCE, Ala. – World-class storytellers will be present at the University of North Alabama May 18 to 19 to entertain crowds with tales of heart, humor and heritage as part of the UNA Front Porch Storytelling Festival. The festival is the newest addition to similar festivals in the North Alabama region.

The UNA and Shoals communities are certainly no stranger to festivals.

“The university hosts the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival annually, and our area is home to many fantastic events like the W.C. Handy Music Festival, the Renaissance Faire and the Helen Keller Festival,” said Debbie Chaffin, director of educational technology services at UNA and chairperson of the storytelling festival. “We’re especially excited this year because we are teaming up with another festival favorite, Arts Alive, which will be held the weekend of May 19 to 20 in Wilson Park in Florence.”

Chaffin is working with a committee composed of university personnel and community leaders to organize the storytelling event.

“We’re so excited to have people like the great Donald Davis, Syd Lieberman, and Dolores Hydock as featured tellers,” said Chaffin. “We have an incredible lineup of artists, which includes Andy Offutt Irwin, Bil Leep and UNA’s own Bill Foster.”

In addition to the storytelling at the Memorial Amphitheatre, organizers have other events planned, including spooky ghost stories by torchlight on Saturday night and a lunch time cruise May 17 on the Tennessee River aboard “Pickwick Belle."

Tickets for the storytelling festival are available now. Admission is $25 per day for adults and $5 per day for students. Discounted tickets are available for those who wish to attend both days. The tickets for the two-hour “Pickwick Belle” cruise, which includes a light meal and entertainment, are $25 each.

For more information, visit www.una.edu/storytelling. To speak with Debbie Chaffin, call Lorrie Woods at 256-765-4208 or email at dkchaffin@una.edu.