Storytelling festival set at Camp Tyler

Squatty Pines Storytelling Festival, March 2-4, is a weekend for storytellers and story listeners to gather 'round and share exciting and evocative stories for all ages. This year, the festival is celebrating its 10th year and features Willy Claflin, Shelly Kneupper-Tucker and the E-Flat Porch Band.

Camp Tyler, on the shores of Lake Tyler, is the setting for tale-telling, folk-singing, storyswapping and imaginationboosting workshops. The weekend begins with dinner at the camp at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 2, and a "concert" of story and song beginning at 6:30.

Saturday, March 3, will be filled with story-building workshops for adults and children. Beginning at 9:30 a.m., featured teller Claflin offers tips for telling "Out of Thin Air - How to make up original tales to tell." Also at 9:30, children have ageappropriate activities to help them learn how to tell stories. After lunch, the children and members of the East Texas Storytellers Guild will share their stories at 1 p.m. Then at 2, featured teller Tucker's workshop, "Fleshing Out the Bare Bones,"will present techniques for creating ghost stories.

Saturday ends with another concert of music and word weaving beginning at 6:30 p.m. and winding down around the fireplace sometime later. Sunday's Sacred Stories concert at 10 a.m. is free and will feature all the guest tellers for one final hurrah before Sunday dinner and the trek home.

Adult admission for individual concerts and workshops is $10 per person. Ticket price for the complete festival package is $125 for adults and $50 for children. Full admission prices include meals and lodging at the camp for the weekend, as well as all workshops and concerts. For more information, call Camp Tyler at 903-262-1225.