Tickets for the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival the last weekend of January will pre-sale through December 19 for those who wish to purchase tickets as gifts for Christmas.

Rue Botts, ticket chair, said requests for tickets prompted the pre-sale.

“Tickets to the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival will make wonderful Christmas gifts and we want to accommodate those who want to purchase the tickets in time for Christmas,” Botts said. “The tickets will go back on sale Wednesday, Dec. 31 and remain on sale until the Festival Jan. 30 and 31, 2015.”

The Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival will feature Donald Davis, the undisputed Dean of Storytelling, and Barbara McBride-Smith, the high-energy Texan who is reminiscent of a brimstone preacher, a carnival barker and Butterfly McQueen.

Joining the storytelling warhorses will be Josh Goforth and Tim Lowry, new voices at the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival but not to storytelling.

Grammy nominated Josh Goforth, from the mountains of Western North Carolina, is a super star in waiting, Botts said.

“Josh Goforth is a natural storyteller as he tells about his life growing up in the mountains. He is a highly acclaimed traditional musician and one of the finest fiddlers in the country. He is a master at combining stories will traditional mountain music.”

Lowry is an original voice with stories from his Kentucky roots, his travels across the country and his home on the “Sweet Tea Trail” in Summerville, South Carolina.

“He mixes up stories of growing up Baptist, baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet,’” Botts said.

The 2015 Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival will open at 6:30 Friday night, January 30 with supper, stories and songs at the We Piddle Around Theater ($25) and continue on Saturday, January 31, with concerts at 10 a.m. ($10), 2 ($10) and 6:30 ($15) p.m. at the Trojan Center Theater on the campus of Troy University.

Pre-show traditional music will be presented 30 minutes prior to each storytelling concert. Featured bands will be The Benton Brothers and Company, The Lighthouse String Ensemble and The Hendersons.

For tickets or more information about the event, please call 372-1001, 685-5524 or 670-6302.