Love a good story? Kentucky festival talks to your imagination in unique setting

In the digital age, storytelling comes in more forms and through more channels than ever before. And yet, for devotees of Kentucky’s Cave Run Storytelling Festival, there is something deeply satisfying about sitting with a group of people and listening to someone tell a story with nothing more to augment the experience than a microphone and the night air.

“The experience is just more intimate than watching someone digitally,” says the festival’s director Beth Reynolds. “I think it is particularly special at Cave Run because of the unique environment, with the lake (and the) fall weather.”

The 23rd edition of the Cave Run Storytelling Festival will be Sept. 29-30 on the shores of Cave Run Lake near Morehead, with performances taking place in two enormous tents at the Twin Knobs Recreational Area, which is part of the Daniel Boone National Forest. The festival hosts visits from school groups on Thursday and Friday morning before beginning the all-ages programming Friday afternoon.

Reynolds understands that when people hear the term “storytelling,” they might first imagine it’s something just for children, but the experience can also benefit grown-ups who are living in stressful times. “This is a weekend that adults can escape that,” she says. “They can laugh, they can cry, they can learn. We have attendees who travel from all over the country for our festival, and return every year.”

What to expect at a storytelling event

For visitors who’ve never been to a storytelling event, the format is similar to stand-up comedy in that it’s typically a single performer on a stage without notes, props or accompaniment. Some tellers incorporate music into their stories, but most just talk. While humor is part of the tradition, it’s optional; the only requirement is that the teller hold the audience’s attention by offering compelling stories that may be personal in nature, may be retellings of myths or folk tales, or the ever-popular ghost stories, which will be theme of the stories told at one of the two tents on Saturday night.

But whatever the type of story, there’s a sense of interaction and connection that the event organizers and the tellers are looking to create. Mary Hamilton is a longtime storyteller who lives in Frankfort. She’s also a former president of the Kentucky Storytelling Association, and will perform ghost stories at Cave Run Saturday night. “When I’m telling, I want to say just enough so the audience can use their imaginations to fill in some of the details,” she says. Tellers are highly attuned to their audience’s reactions and will often adjust their performance accordingly. Good storytelling should feel like a conversation, Hamilton says, “even if the teller is the one doing the talking.”

Kentucky storytelling festivals

The Cave Run Storytelling Festival isn’t the only Kentucky storytelling festival, but it is the most popular among others such as More Tales, Wilmore Storytelling Festival and the Paris Storytelling Festival. This year’s festival features performers who are well-established on America’s storytelling festival circuit. In fact, Cave Run tellers Kim Weitkamp, Donald Davis and Hamilton will also perform at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee October 6-8.

In fact, it was a trip to that event that led to the creation of the Cave Run festival. Morehead resident Carolyn Franzini said, “I didn’t know what to expect,” when she started visiting the National Storytelling Festival, founded in 1973. “I found it so fascinating that (the tellers) were so skilled,” she said. Eventually, Franzini’s appreciation and advocacy for storytelling helped establish a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service that led to the creation of the Cave Run Storytelling Festival in 1999. Today, the Forest Service is a co-sponsor of the festival, along with Morehead-Rowan County Tourism.

Storyteller Davis has performed multiple times at the Cave Run Storytelling Festival and was telling stories in Morehead-area schools prior to its founding. Davis, a former United Methodist minister, lives in North Carolina and performs in festivals and other venues all over the country and says Cave Run has earned a strong reputation in the storytelling community. “All the tellers love being there,” he says, “It is one of my most favorite festivals.”

From perspective of the storyteller on stage, the goal of the art form goes beyond entertainment. “I hope that my stories remind listeners of stories of their own,” Davis says, “and that they leave telling each other things they would not have thought of without hearing us.”

Graham Shelby is a writer and storyteller who grew up in Lexington. He lives in Louisville with his family and serves as frequent host of The Moth Story Slam .

Cave Run Storytelling Festival

When: 9:45 a.m.-9p.m, Sept. 29-30

Where: Twin Knobs Recreation Area in the Daniel Boone National Forest, just south of Morehead

Tickets: $5-$95; cash or check at the gate

More information, schedule: caverunstoryfest.org