UNT College of Arts & Sciences - Alumni Appreciation Honoree 2000

Finley Stewart
Denton, TX - BS 1990, MS 1990

Full-time professional storyteller, a career he started while attending a storytelling course in the speech department some sixteen years ago. He took that training and began the Texas Storytelling Festival, now the largest of it's kind in the southwest. He educates and performs throughout the United States at venues as large as the National Parks Service, as diverse as the Smithsonian Institute, and as small as the local public library. He served as Chair of the National Storytelling Association from 1992-1994 and is the recipient of the 1991 John Henry Faulk Award. Currently he is working on his third book for publication, but continues to speak nationwide.

Storytelling fest stops by Denton

Clarisa Ramirez
Intern
North Texas Daily: 3/30/04
 

Thousands of people attended the19th annual Texas Storytelling Festival (TSF) this weekend.

Gorgeous weather provided a wonderful accompaniment to stories told under tents at the Denton Civic Center Park, and included workshops and concerts from Thursday to Sunday.

Each year the festival features acclaimed national and international storytellers, as well as a handful from Texas.

This time around, the local storytellers were called the Tejas Trio.

Examples of the concerts held at the festival were Ghost Tales, one of the free events on Thursday; Late Night Liars featuring unbelievable lies; and a concert held in honor of the late Finley Stewart, who was the creator of the Texas Storytelling Festival.

Peggy Helmick-Richardson, co-site director for the event, said approximately 1,800 children from elementary and secondary schools attended the concert Friday evening. This is Helmick-Richardson's 15th year to be a part of the festival.

"We have to be there before the festival and we're the last to leave. My husband has been site director for over 10 years and in the past I've done publicity for eight years," she said.

When Helmick-Richardson first attended the festival a decade ago, it was held on the TWU campus and only hundreds of people attended.

"The event has really grown," she said.

Zack Tucker volunteered at the festival and has been helping TSF for the past seven years.

He said TSF's executive director Karen Morgan recruited a diverse range of storytellers, making the festival a success.