The Athens Storytelling Festival is one of my favorite times of the year. The big tent is up on the east side of the Courthouse, out-of-towners are walking around the Square taking in our beautiful downtown, the aroma of good food wafts through the air, the trees visible on Coleman Hill, Jefferson Street, and Clinton Street, are in full-color, just about at the peak of their beauty for this year. How beautiful it all is, and what better place in the world could you be than Athens, Alabama?

Wayne Kuykendall of Athens, who is responsible for bringing the Festival to Athens, with much assistance from dozens of local citizens, said this: "Imagine a crisp fall weekend spent listening to stories of adventure and excitement, a place where memories and magic are captured and spun into tales that make you laugh and cry. Hear stories that tell of a time that used to be. Glimpse into the past and live the imaginary. Learn more about your parents, your children, and yourself. Discover all this and more at the Athens Storytelling Festival."

The Third Annual Athens Storytelling Festival is now history. Many people think that an event such as our Festival is just that, an event. But it isn't just an event. Donald Davis, one of America's foremost storytellers, who was in Athens for his third Festival, spoke to a large crowd of local supporters of the Festival at a premier dinner on Thursday night. He said, "The Athens Festival is not an event or just a festival, it is a family reunion." His words were true. We saw many visitors this year that were here the past two years. All the storytellers, except two have been here three years. Each one of these professional storytellers talked about how the people of Athens and Limestone County have treated them, and catered to their every need. Donald also said that the greatest storytelling festivals in America are in small-towns, just like ours.

Wednesday and Thursday there were a total of 6,000 children from the Limestone County and Athens City School Systems privileged to sit under the spell of these six master storytellers, free of charge, and hear tales of how things used to be with their parents and grandparents, and how things are now for them. It looked to me as if these kids were as enthralled with these stories as they are with the electronic games and television shows that mesmerize them on a daily basis. The storytellers all agree that the great amount of time they spend with kids at festivals and in schools are not just for entertainment. Their stories to the kids lay a foundation for communication, because storytelling is the way information is communicated. The teachers of children who are exposed to these stories then have subjects of interest that the children can discuss and write about in their classes.

Kathryn Tucker Windham, a 91-year-old native of Thomasville, is a master at telling stories, the author of 24 books, playwright, public radio and television personality. She can work an audience and bring every emotion within a person, out to the surface. She can have an audience rolling in the aisles with laughter about her two-piece, New York City bathing suit, splitting the first time she dived into the local swimming hole in Grove Hill, among the cute boys at age 14. She will then make you cry telling the true story of the little African-American boy who had no shoes. Her ability to relate to every age category is amazing.

The Third Annual Athens Storytelling Festival is now history. If you and your family missed it, you missed a good one. But there will be a fourth one next year. You need to purpose in your heart today to make sure your kids and grandkids attend the festival next year. In the meantime, take Kathryn Tucker Windham's advice. Go home and tell some stories to someone you love. Tell them about your great aunt that was crazy as a Bessie bug, about your one-eyed uncle who volunteered for duty in World War II, and was turned down, about sticking your button-on-a-string to your Daddy's hairy arm while he was shaving, about the skunks getting under your house Sunday evening, just before church, about growing up on Coleman Hill with Mickey Grisham and all the McAlisters, and about the time you pushed your cousin Steve into the baptistery during a church service. All of us have a lot of stories to tell.