Storyteller Mark Gollaher sent us this announcement.If you could use your imagination to conger up the perfect conditions for people to gather and while away the time listening to great stories, what would you envision? Would you time it when summer is coming to a close? When days are still long and warm but not so blistering hot you beg for air-conditioning? When children have had their fill of swimming, hiking and camping but before the rush of School starting in the fall?
What about the perfect location? Would you like it held outdoors? Perhaps under a canape, nestled in at the foot of the mountains with cool canyon breezes softly blowing-oh, and of course, a gentle stream babbling close at hand.
Would you include some of the best raconteurs from around the nation? Would you have many different styles of storytelling going on simultaneously so you always had a smorgasbord of choices? Would you intersperse the taletelling with great folk music, dancing, crafts and even puppet shows? Would you have evening performances where everyone could spread out blankets on a grassy hillside and listen to all the storytellers tell their favorite story under the stars? Finally, would you have it all last for three days just to make sure you didn’t miss anything?
If this is your idea of the perfect storytelling experience, you’ve just dreamed up the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival in Orem, Utah. The "Timpfest," as it is known, is held the last Thursday, Friday and Saturday in August in the Olmstead Park located at the base of Mount Timpanogos. The ancient Indian legends surrounding the mountain’s distinctive sleeping maiden shape and the heart-shaped stalactite in the cave near it’s peak, make Timpanogos an apt site for the storyteller’s art.
The festival was created 13 years ago as a means to raise funds for the Orem Public Library’s Children’s Library and as a way to foster and promote the art of storytelling in the West. This year the festival dates land on the 29, 30, and 31 of August. This year’s nationally known Storytellers will be, Willy Claflin, Donald Davis, Carmen Agra Deedy, Rex Ellis, Beth Horner, Jay O’Callahan, Laura Pershin, The Story Crafters (Gary Marshal and Jeri Burns), Betty Ann Wylie, and the featured Utah teller will be me, Mark Gollaher!
If you have a desire to obtain further information please visit the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival web site at, timpfest.org I hope to see you there!
