Apply to be a Fringe Teller: A Chance to Share

By Walt Belcher

It’s that time again.

As we draw closer to our 2026  Florida Storytelling Festival (Jan. 22-25), we will be picking three tellers to participate in our annual Fringe performances.

Held during the festival, these are showcases for tellers to each present a 45-minute program.

This year the Fringe shows will begin at 9:15 pm on the Friday night of the Festival in the Donnelly, Alexander and Grandview rooms of the Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora.

If you are interested, get your application in ASAP.   You can find application forms at Fringe Application – Florida Storytelling Association.  You need to be a member of the Florida Storytelling Association.

The deadline for entry is September 1.  There will be a live drawing at 7 pm on September 8 by the Tale Tellers of St. Augustine.  A notice will be sent to all Fringe applicants (congrats or condolences).

I was a Fringe teller last year (2025) along with  Sandra Measles and Eric “Tellemtall” Hoppener. David Fussell was chosen as an alternate. This was a first Florida Fringe for Sandra and Eric. I also did a Fringe in 2022. 

I had applied in 2019 and 2020 but my name was not drawn. In the audience at the 2022 Fringe were some friends from the Orlando Story Club and the students from the Odessa Christian School.  I put together an amusing string of stories about growing up in a South Carolina textile mill village. The students’ teacher told me later than my Christmas story about a family squabble over an artificial Christmas tree made an impression.

Also sharing Fringe duties in 2022 was Katie Green and Louise O’Leary. O’Leary, of Mount Dora, told how a small-town English girl met, married, and moved to America to be with her Louisiana sweetheart.

Last year, I did a whole presentation on Florida cowmen in the 1800s and the legendary Bone Mizell.

Other Fringe tellers have included Julie Bradshaw, Kay Pritcher and a return performance by Katie Green at the 2024 Festival. Linda Ford Schuyler Ford, Mark Muncy and Carol Kramer were Fringe tellers in 2023.

Former FSA President Joel Ying, current festival manager, said he was “anxious, excited, grateful, and motivated” to perfect what has become some of his favorite stories when he told at a Fringe in 2018.

In 2019, Mary Lou Williams  offered a funny medley of fractured fairy tales.  Drew Willard offered an inspirational Fringe story inspired by the scriptures of Mark from the Bible. And Debra Weller, of the St. Augustine Tale Tellers, told tales of three naughty children. She says it was her first festival, and now she is president of FSA.

Fringe Tellers from the 2025 Festival: Sandra Measels, Eric “Tellemtall” Hoppener and Walt Belcher