The Florida Storytelling Festival launched our first Liars Contest in 2023. And that’s no lie.
We are coming upon the third Liars Contest at the festival in January.
The winner and champion teller of tall tales that first year was Pete Abdalla. He returned to defend his crown and won again at the 2024 Festival.
Pete will be one of our porch tellers this year, and maybe he’ll be back for our third round of tall tales.
Pat Nease, who has won a lot of Liars Contests over the years, serves as the Liars Contest emcee at the festival. Look back on this website to find her blog from last year: “Liar! Liar! Pants on Fire!”
She gives good tips on how to tell a tall tale.
Pete told wonderful stories about an amazing adventure in hunting and a wild tale about air travel. He can spin a yarn with a straight face and great pacing. His dry wit and humor help too.
This is fibbing in a good way. These are the kind of stories that are told just for fun. The so-called “lies” should bring a smile to your face. No one will be injured in the telling of a tall tale.
Back in the day when folks gathered around the fire to hear stories, the fine art of exaggeration was born. The best tall tales start with a kernel of truth, but that truth is then stretched, and stretched, and then stretched some more until it becomes a whopper of a yarn, often with characters who are larger than life.
If one were to point out the best-known tall tale spinner in the country that title would probably go to Bil Lepp, a humorist, multi-contest winner and a storyteller missing an “L” in his name.
Lepp, from West Virginia, has authored several books, made numerous recordings, and is in demand at storytelling festivals throughout the country. A former preacher, he started his storytelling career in the 1990s, using the West Virginia Liars Contest as a springboard. He won that competition five times. He now jokes that he continues to lie for a living, and gets standing ovations for it.
America has a rich history in tall tales with characters such as Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, John Henry, Casey Jones, Davy Crockett and Johnny Appleseed.
And new stars of tall tale adventures are being created. For example, children’s book author Jan Day has penned the adventures of Kissimmee Pete, “a gator-wrestlin’, free-wheeling, fun-loving, clever Florida frontier cracker cow hunter.”
So use your imagination, be creative, and come up with your own tall tale. Bring it to the Concert Stage at 3 p.m. Friday (Jan. 24) and throw your name in the hat.
Pete Abdalla lives in the Orlando area and is a member of the Storytellers of Central Florida, founded in 1987.
Pat Nease, of Panama City, is a long-time member of the Florida Storytelling Association and currently serves on the board of diectors.
