The Wrangell Mountains Storytelling Festival
August 9 - 11, 2024
McCarthy, Alaska
Grassroots Storytelling
In 2023, the Storytelling Festival was a 3-day competitive event held at the Glacier View Campground on the West Side, the Old Hardware Store at the WMC, with the finalists performing at the Roadside Potatohead on the third night.
THIS YEAR, we are narrowing down the competition to ONE night, in the historic and magical Old Hardware Store. In addition to the competition we will be introducing new ways to engage with storytelling and new voices to hear from. We will include storytelling workshops along with a non-competitive night to hear from guest storytellers and our elders.
We hand-pick stories from those events to feature in our End of the Road Podcast. Check out Season 4 for highlights from our 2023 Storytelling Festival!
Stories for the night of competition have an 8 minute time limit and can be true, false…or anywhere in between. A cash prize will be awarded to the competition winner!
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Locations and Times To Be Announced
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The Wrangell Mountains Storytelling Festival seeks to catalyze local storytellers and celebrate the art of grassroots storytelling in our community.
Big Thank You to our 2023 Sponsors and Storytellers
McCarthy Tours & Outfitters: Hosting and Support
The Roadside Potatohead: Hosting and Support
Glacier View Campground: West Side storytelling venue
Nate Anderson & Howard Mozen: Donating Salmon for the Chowder Fundraiser
Our hard-working WMC Summer Staff for hustling to coordinate and put the events together
And of course, big thanks to all the storytellers who participate in the event
Photo by Dave Sabell - 2021 storytelling at the Old Hardware Store
The Stories We Share
Photo by Dave Sabell
Stories are the soul of our mountain community, and the Wrangell Mountains Center has always been committed to this ancient art form
We believe in the power of community and the stories we share –stories that hold us together, during times of joy and times of change.
Prompts and Story Ideas
You know who tells the best stories? You! Consider joining the storytelling fray. You could win a cash prize or hear your story on our podcast — or just enjoy being part of the action. There’s something exhilarating, enriching, and even therapeutic when you share your story in the company of people who can’t wait to hear it.
Here are a few ideas to get ya’ thinking…
The Classic: We always love hearing your story of arriving in McCarthy. For most of us, our stories of how we made it to the Wrangells and what happened when we got here are abso-freaking-unforgettable…
The Wild: Share your wild story, which may or may not involve the wilderness…
Eros: It may be cold up here, but the audience always warms to tales of love and romance in the Far North…
Pathos: Share your most unnerving, white-knuckle travel adventure…
Logos: Tell a tale of that life-altering situation that shifted and changed your perception of yourself and the world: that moment of personal epiphany…
And The Rest Is History: We love a good historical yarn, local Kennicott-McCarthy history or a chapter from Alaskan days of yore…
Judge’s Criteria
1) Meets time limit? 5 points awarded if under 8 minutes. Zero Points if over 8 minutes. Disqualified if over 9 minutes.
2) Audience rapport: To what extent was the storyteller engaging/entertaining to the audience
3) Narrative Voice/characterization: Did the storyteller stay in character? Did they have a consistent/compelling and
believable voice?
4) Originality: Was the story original, surprising, not predictable? Or was it obvious, boring or cliché?
5) Presentation Skills: Was the storyteller at ease engaged with their full body and vocals? Voice projection, Body
language, Body movement, Costumes and other forms of presentation, etc.
Photo by Dave Sabell - 2021 Tall Tales (Old Hardware Store)
Aboev: Bill Mann telling his winning story at the Old Hardware Store (2022) Left: Winning storyteller, Madz on the West Side stage (2022). Photos by Dave Sarbell
Email sabrina@wrangells.org for more information