The art of storytelling is a tradition across the world, and this week, some of the best can be heard right here in Pike County.
The Brundidge Historical Society (BHS) will play host to its 24th annual Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival on Friday, January 24 and Saturday, January 25.
The storytellers will open to a sold-out audience on Friday night as the We Piddle Around Theater (WPA) in Brundidge, Alabama, opens its doors for the annual festival. Traditionally, the audience will be served a meal while enjoying the show.
Thirty minutes prior to each showtime, there is live traditional music such as bluegrass, country and Southern gospel, which sets the mood for the show.
The festival aims to entertain and touch the hearts of listeners by carrying on the oral traditions of the past into the present.
Cathie Steed, ticket chair at WPA, shared her hopes of the festival portraying familiarity.
“We hope people take away a feeling of remembrance,” said Steed. “A lot of us grew up with parents or grandparents who told stories, so a lot of it is nostalgic.”
Each year, the festival features several of the country’s top storytellers. This year, there are three nationally acclaimed storytellers featured: Donald Davis, Kevin Kling and Kim Weitkamp.
Davis, known as the ‘dean of storytelling’ is returning to the festival for the 18th time.
“Donald Davis is a homecoming, and there is nothing, I mean nothing, like witnessing Donald Davis tell a story,” said storyteller Kevin Kling.
The BHS would like to invite people of all ages to come out and enjoy a fun time at the festival.
“I think everybody, no matter what your age, can get something from the storytelling,” Steed said. “It’s an awful lot of fun.”
Friday night’s show will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the We Piddle Around Theater in Brundidge, Alabama. Saturday’s performances will be held at the Trojan Center Theater at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6:30 p.m. Tickets for Saturday are $10-$15, while Troy University students are admitted for free.
Anyone interested in attending one of Saturday’s shows can visit piddle.org or contact Cathie Steed at 334-685-5524.
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