The Virtual Storytelling Showcase

There’s more! Don’t miss the upcoming Virtual Storytelling Showcase where you can gather together with the WMC family to watch highlights from this summer’s grassroots storytelling festival. The Virtual Showcase is held in conjunction with our annual online auction.

Watch professionally produced highlights from this summer’s grassroots storytelling festival, with our beloved Nancy Cook as emcee!

Stay for the online afterparty, interact and connect with friends near and far.

Dave Sarbell created and produced quality video and audio recordings from the three-day storytelling festival. We will have a selection of videos interspersed throughout the virtual event, designed to give you a sample of the highlights from the 2022 grassroots storytelling festival in McCarthy-Kennicott. There will be short clips and video collages along with a few particularly entertaining stories in their entirety — all interspersed in a virtual event where you can re-connect with your WMC friends and McCarthy neighbors.

The Virtual Showcase is held in conjunction with our annual online auction.

Connect with your Wrangell Mountains friends and support the WMC and our fall online auction.

October 16, 5 pm

Register to receive the link!

The 1st Annual Tin Can Annie’s Truth Be Told

Storytelling Festival

Big Thank You to This Summer’s Sponsors and Storytellers

Uncle Herbs (Anchorage and Homer) for sponsoring the prize money
McCarthy Tours & Outfitters for providing food for the Friday BBQ Fundraiser
Glacier View Campground for providing the West Side space
Nate Anderson & Howard Mozen for 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 participated in this year's event.

Tin can annie’s truth be told Storytelling Festival

August 12th - 14th

McCarthy, Alaska

New Directions in Storytelling

In order to facilitate grassroots storytelling in the community, the Wrangell Mountains Center will be launching our First Annual Tin Can Annie’s Truth Be Told Storytelling Festival. The WMC formerly partnered with the Golden Saloon and Tall Tales, but this year we are launching a new storytelling endeavor that we think will provide a forum more conducive to grass roots storytelling.

We will hold a competition on McCarthy’s West Side on Friday, August 12. There will be another competition at the Old Hardware Store the next day, Saturday August 13, and on Sunday August 14 the top storytellers will be given extended time for a grand finale Winner’s Showcase at the Kennecott Rec Hall.

Stories have an 8 minute time limit and can be true, false…or anywhere in between. Storytellers can compete in both events, on Friday and Saturday. (So if you don’t win on Friday, you can try again on Saturday.) Cash prizes of $100 will be awarded to the top storyteller on Friday and Saturday nights and the grand prize winner of the Winner’s Showcase will be awarded $500.

Dates and Times

August 12: Glacier View campground on the West Side, 6 pm barbecue fundraiser and 8 pm competition

August 13: Old Hardware Store in downtown McCarthy, 5 pm salmon chowder fundraiser and 7 pm competition

August 14: Kennecott Rec Hall, 7pm Winner’s Showcase

The new Tin Can Annie’s Truth Be Told Storytelling Festival seeks to catalyze local storytellers and celebrate the art of grassroots storytelling in our community

Later in the fall we will hold a virtual event highlighting some of the finest stories for our supporters who cannot be in Kennicott-McCarthy for the Festival.

The Stories We Share

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.