By Ann Robson, Special to OutreachNC

Before we had printed symbols which led to the printed word, we had storytellers. They were the historians of their time. They kept their family and friends informed about life in their area and often in neighboring hamlets and villages.

Most families have informal storytellers who pass down tales about their ancestors. It’s generally acknowledged that some embellishment may take place over the years. That’s how we learn that our great-grandfather may have been a mayor who embezzled funds to build the grand house you’ve always thought was the “family place.” Or perhaps there’s a great long-held fantasy that your great aunt fled to Europe and married a count, when all she did was run away from home.

Stories have been carved, scratched, painted or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory and other bones, pottery, clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books, skins, parchment, bark cloth and paper. And now we can cobble together an instantaneous history via e-mail or social media. We have come a long way, but those who believe in the power of the spoken word lament that oral histories are slowly disappearing.

At the Storytelling Arts Center of the Southeast in Laurinburg, the art of storytelling is alive and well. The Fifth Annual Storytelling Festival of Carolina will be held April 1–3, at the Storytelling Arts Center of the Southeast, located at 131 S. Main Street in Laurinburg.

toryteller Tyris Jones and Jan Schmidt, executive director of the Storytelling Arts Center of the Southeast, stand on the stage also known as the “Listening Place” on the grounds of the John Blue House historic site in Laurinburg, where a portion of the Storytelling Festival of Carolina takes place April 1-3. For more information, call (910) 277-3599 or visit the web site, www.storyartscenter.org.

The festival starts on Friday at 7:30 p.m. with a preview of all the storytellers. Saturday morning, April 2, professional storytellers gather on the grounds of the John Blue House and make the audience laugh, sing and bring tears to their eyes as they tell tales of all kinds. The first one-hour session starts at 10 a.m., and the tales continue in one-hour sessions until 5 p.m. There will be half-hour breaks between each session.

There will be two sessions on Sunday of faith-based stories at 10:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. The festival concludes Sunday afternoon.

In addition to the professional storytellers, amateurs are encouraged to participate during the half-hour sessions.

Jan Schmidt is executive director of the Center which presents programs year-round, depending on funding. Last year, the Center held a camp for kids, and Schmidt hopes to offer that again.

The next event on the busy schedule is May 1 when the Ladies Sunday Afternoon Spring Tea will be held with music, storytelling, exotic teas and homemade desserts.

May 20-23, there will be an inaugural Roots Festival, a multicultural, multidisciplinary event with world-famous fiddler Jamie Laval, Beach Music star Vincent McDougald and flutist Jonathan Wood featured with a number of professional storytellers and visual artists.

The third Sunday of each month features a Bluegrass Jam for musicians and listeners.

The center was incorporated in September 2007, and one year later they opened in downtown Laurinburg.

“Our most important functions are to provide the community with affordable high quality art experiences and to be a catalyst for economic development by attracting people from our region and across the country to our events,” says Schmidt.