I had never been to the Storytelling Festival. I had heard plenty of great things about it, and how I really
needed to attend it at least once. I am greatful that I had the opprotunity to attend it this year. It worked
out great, because my son's class went and I was able to share this experience with him.
The morning started out in the Animas Tent. We were able to watch two performers. The first was Kevin
Kling. The students enjoyed his stories as he opened up about his grandmother, and stories about his own physical experience.
The students enjoyed his muscial instrument that he had created. After Kevin performed we were able to have a student
storyteller. I do not recall her name, but she did an excellent job describing the animals in her story. I was
very impressed, and you were able to see the experience of her storytelling.
The second storyteller was Andy Offutt Irwin. His act started with interacting with the students.
These students were to stand up before the crowd, and go along with Andy's performance. They were great sports while
Andy was using a plastic hammer that made some noise when he hit the students on the head. Andy then continued with
a song that had the the WHOLE audience involved. He made a comment stating that he was going to start a Senior
performance, because of the Senior involvement. After Andy performed there was another student storyteller. This
student storyteller was not as experienced as the first, however she has great potential.
After the Animas Tent we were then on to the KWYK tent. Here there were two more storytellers. The
first was Kevin Kling again. The students were not to keen on the idea of seeing the same storyteller that they had
just seen, yet Kevin knew that they had just come from the other tent that he was in, and was able to tell different stories.
The second stroyteller in this tent was Angel Vigil. He is from New Mexico, and that made it more real
for the students to relate. He also spoke of the Lengend La LLorna. For some students this was the first time
they had ever heard of the legend. He then turned the legend into a scary story for the students. The students
enjoyed this, because it was different from the other storytellers. This was a great way to engage these students after
sitting for two hours.
I could not believe how engaged I was in the whole festival. The children were ecstatic about being able
to have a field trip that was for them to enjoy storytelling. The atmosphere of Berg Park was fabulous! I can
now see why the Storytelling Festival is located there. I was impressed with how organized it was with them expecting
over 900 students on that day. I did learn that if I am to take a field trip for the Storytelling Festival I will have
to make sure that we are there early, because we will want to get some great seats for that first session.
