The Kathryn Tucker Windham Tale-Tellin’ Festival will return to the Carneal Cultural Arts Center Oct. 14-15.

This year’s festival will feature Norton Dill, leader of the Dill Pickers, Suzi “Mama” Whaples, a story teller from West Virginia and Pat Nease, who is known for her high energy, quick wit and wry humor. The festival was founded by Windham, who was born in Selma and became an award winning writer and photographer, and celebrates her love for telling a good story.

“We are excited to have such talented storytellers and musicians and to continue the tradition founded by Kathryn Tucker Wyndham,” said event chairman Beth Wilson in a press release.

Whaples has 35 years of storytelling experience and describes herself on her biography as “not your average Appalachian teller.” She’s performed at the National Storytelling Festival and as Teller in Residence at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Nease is an educator with 35 years of experience as a classroom teacher and library-media specialist. She founded the Middle School Storytelling Festival in Panama City and is a past president of the Florida Storytelling Association.

Dill is the leader of the Dill Pickers, a comedy/music troupe that has performed in Selma many times over the last few years. This year Dill will be performing solo. He’s the founder of Dill Productions, which has produced many award winning documentaries, including “Kathryn: The Tucker of a Teller” and has directed “Christmas on Sand Mountain” and “A Bluegrass Christmas Carol.”

The Dixieland Cloggers from Montgomery will also perform on Saturday at 6 p.m.

“Tale Tellin started out getting nationally known story tellers here and that tradition has continued,” said Martha Lockett, executive director of ArtsRevive. “We think it’s really important to bring in folks that have national credentials who are well-known, who are professional, so community folks see what story telling can do and start to value their own stories.”

Each year the storytellers that perform at Tale Tellin’ also spend some time within the schools in Selma and Dallas County. This year fall break coincides with the week of the festival, making it tough to schedule dates with the schools.

Despite that, the performers will still be at one Selma City School, Meadowview Christian School and Morgan Academy.

“We think getting professional artists of any discipline so students can have those experiences is real vital,” Lockett said.

The festival has always been family based, and the pricing has been changed this year to reflect that. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students with ID and free for children under six, but there’s a new family rate this year too. Two adults and two children under 18 can get into Tale Tellin’ for $30.

“Story telling is a family thing,” Lockett said.

The event will move back to ArtsRevive this year after moving to Wallace Community College Selma last year while the Carneal Building was under construction.

The festival begins at 6 p.m. with the Swappin’ Ground, where amateurs can tell their own stories. The Swappin’ Ground follows the Dixieland Cloggers on Saturday, with the main event starting at 7 p.m. both evenings.

Tale Tellin’ always closes with everyone playing a hair comb wrapped in wax paper, a tradition started by Windham, and the song “I’ll Fly Away,” which was sung at Windham’s funeral.

“It’s a neat place to be those two nights in October and we hope the community can come and support it,” Lockett said. “A lot of people went 25 years ago and said ‘Well, I’ve done that,’ but it’s different every year.”

For more information, contact ArtsRevive at 334-878-ARTS, email info@artsrevive.com or visit www.artsrevive.com.