The Shoals Storytelling Festival, listed as a Top Twenty Events in the Southeast, began in 2011 as the Front Porch Storytelling Festival, was originally hosted on the campus of the University of North Alabama (UNA) in Florence, a city on the banks of the Tennessee River in northwestern Alabama. In 2017, the Festival moved to the historic Shoals Theatre in downtown Florence, and was renamed The Shoals Storytelling Festival, acknowledging its home in “the Shoals,” an area made up of the four cities of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. The Quad Cities is an area rich in history, stories, and music. It’s the birthplace of Helen Keller and W. C. Handy, and the site of FAME Studios and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.
For 2022, the Festival will be held at the Shoals Theatre – 123 N Seminary St. – Florence, AL 35630 from May 19th through May 21st. As you plan your visit to join us this year please check out our venue at www.theshoalstheatre.org, and learn more about our historic and culturally rich area at visitflorenceal.com.
SHOALS STORYTELLING FESTIVAL
2024 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday night
7-9pm Olio with Josh Goforth, Dolores Hydock, Bil Lepp, Tim Lowry and Kevin Kling
Friday, May 17-
8:55 am – Erick Kirkman – 9:10
9:10 -Kevin Kling – 9:40
9:40-Tim Lowry – 10:10
10:10 – Bil Lepp – 10:40
10:40-10:55 – Break
10:55 – Dolores Hydock – 12:15
12:15 – 2:00 – Lunch
2:05 – Josh Goforth – 3:00
3:00 – 3:35 – Bil Lepp
3:35 – 3:50 - Break
3:50 – 4:15 - Kevin Kling
4:15- 4:45 - Tim Lowry
Dinner 4:45-6:55
Olio – 7-9
Walt Aldridge, Dolores Hydock, Josh Goforth, Kevin Kling, Tim Lowry and Bil Lepp
Saturday, May 18th
9:00- 9:40 – Tim Lowry
9:40-10:20 – Josh Goforth
10:20-10:35 – Break
10:35 – 11:15 – Kevin Kling
11:15 – 12:00 – Bil Lepp
12:00-2 – Lunch
2:00- 3:15 – Dolores Hydock
3:15-3:45 – Josh Goforth
3:45-4 - Break
4:00 4:30 – Tim Lowry
4:30 -5:00 – Kevin Kling
5-7 - Dinner
Olio – 7-9
Kevin Kling, Josh Goforth, Dolores Hydock, Tim Lowry and Bil Lepp
Friday, May 17
In Her Own Fashion, by Dolores Hydock: Stories of career disasters, celebrity encounters, war, peace, and reckless romance, based on the life of Ninette Griffith, a sassy, ambitious, independent woman who, at age 95, was ready to tell all.
AND
Saturday, May 18
Intrepid Birdmen: The Pilots of World War I, by Dolores Hydock: The thrilling true story of the crazy courage of the earliest pilots who took combat to the skies in the Great War. Adapted from the story by Shoals Storytelling Festival veteran Syd Lieberman.