What Stories Will You Tell?
By Michelle McAfee - Wrangell Mountains Center
(Originally published in the Copper River Record July 20, 2023)
An August rain beat down on the muddy road through McCarthy town as people filled The Old Hardware Store, home of the Wrangell Mountains Center. Storyteller Bill Mann took the stage and shared a lively rendition of a Copper River fishing trip to a standing-room-only crowd. Raucous laughter, clapping, oh yeah’s, and oh no’s erupted from the captive audience at last year’s Wrangell Mountains Storytelling Festival.
Next month, August 11th-13th, the Wrangell Mountains Center (WMC) will again host the competitive 3-day event at The Old Hardware Store in McCarthy (August 11) and the Glacier View Campground on the West Side (August 12), with the finalists competing for the crown on the third night (August 13).
Storytellers are given eight minutes to tell their best story to an audience and panel of judges who choose a winner each night. Cash prizes of $100 are awarded to the top storyteller on Friday and Saturday nights, and $500 goes to the grand prize winner at the Winner’s Showcase on Sunday night.
The festival has grown over the years from a single-night Tall Tales event to a 3-day festival where story performances are recorded live, then curated later in the fall to appear on WMC’s End of the Road Podcast Series.
WMC Executive Director Jon Erdman said, “Storytelling is in the DNA. It’s a way of saying we’re alive. We’re here. It’s a human thing.”
Storytelling matters in McCarthy. It lives in the fabric of the town’s history, woven across years and eras, stitching into memory the bygone details of a rapidly changing natural world and a quickly evolving community. It’s a form of folk art preserving the history of place and people. Storytelling is essential for history to be passed down, preserving the culture of the past and bringing forward ideas and lessons to help in the future.
McCarthy is a confluence of sturdy locals and stunned visitors. The Storytelling Festival is a crossroads where people from different places and cultures meet, bringing experiences from far-flung places and sharing their mishaps, mistakes and of course their larger-than-life Alaskan stories.
Whether stories are accurate to the last detail or only capture the sparkle of a moment in an exaggerated tall tale, each one is significant and meaningful. The art of storytelling leaves an audience wondering whether a story is true, false, or somewhere in between. WMC aims to create a supportive environment for people from all walks of life to share stories, to be heard, and to listen.
Listening may be more important now than ever in a world where social media rules the day with our voices projected into a two-dimensional abstract realm. In McCarthy, during Storytelling Festival, participants get to tell their stories to a group of dedicated listeners, people who are taking the time to sit down, be present, and really listen.
Expanding the event to a 3-day festival makes space for more people to participate and attend, making it more accessible. WMC also hosts regular Word Jams every other Sunday through the summer at The Old Hardware Store, giving folks a chance to practice for the upcoming Storytelling Festival and get feedback on their stories.
In a town full of parties and fun and unlimited things to do in nature, Erdman recognized a lack of opportunities for creative people to share, and said, “Word Jam offers an opportunity to share the meaning of our experiences with other people. When we take the time to creatively articulate what resonates with us in life, we draw more richness out of those experiences.” The Word Jams are open not only to storytelling but also welcome poetry, readings, skits, and comedy.
The long vision for the Storytelling Festival is to continue offering space for creatives to build community through art and storytelling and have fun with a friendly competition. “We find inspiration in other people’s stories,“ said Erdman. “We want to put the Storytelling Festival on people’s radar in the greater Copper River valley, with the hopes of intriguing a few folks to come to McCarthy to tell stories or listen and enjoy the experience.”
Last summer, after Bill Mann told his hilarious Copper River fishing story, another storyteller took the stage that night and told a poignant and funny story about going to Hungary, where her father was from. Two very different stories from very different continents found common ground on stage in McCarthy at the Storytelling Festival.
Hearing stories very different from our own helps us appreciate diversity, expands our vision, and gives us a broader understanding of the world we live in. What stories do you have to tell? An audience in McCarthy awaits.
You can find stories from last year’s festival at the End of the Road Podcast: wrangells.org/end-of-the-road.