Davis to share Grand Canyon story at festival

Published 7:46 pm Friday, January 17, 2020

Nationally acclaimed storyteller Donald Davis stepped onto the stage of the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival in 2008 and told the side-splitting story of his mule ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

The audience erupted in laughter and didn’t let up. Those who heard Davis’ Grand Canyon story have begged to hear it again.

However, Davis has kept that story close to the vest. Until now.

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On his word, Davis will tell the long-awaited and much anticipated Grand Canyon story at the 2020 Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival’s 6:30 p.m. concert on Saturday, January 25, at the Trojan Center Theater on the campus of Troy University.

Davis will be back at the Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival for the 14th year. And, if the storytelling festival continues 50 more years, storytelling patrons will be clamoring for Davis to be back each year.

Johnny Steed, who emcees the annual Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival, said the BHS is committed to bringing the best storytellers in the country to the festival stage. “And Donald Davis is a can’t miss. He’s like fine wine. He gets better with age.”

Those who have heard the Dean of Storytelling say he’s better than fine wine because his stories can be absorbed and savored for a lifetime.

Davis was born in a Southern Appalachia mountain word rich with stories. He takes his audience on journeys that have them slapping their knees with laughter and wiping salty tears from their eyes, all in a single story.

Davis tells stories of simpler times, Mayberry USA kind of times. He takes the audience down Maple Street and around the bend. But his stories have a universal quality. Each member of the audience can relate to Davis’ stories because something similar happened to them or to someone they know.

“He tells stories about people just like those we know,” Steed said. “His facial expressions and his body language bring the stories to life. His stories are really funny but they are more than funny. His stories will touch you heart. There’s not another one like him.”

Davis will be joined at the 2020 Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival by nationally acclaimed storytellers, native Texan Barbara McBride-Smith and Josh Goforth from the mountains of Western North Carolina. Lepp hails from the mountains of West Virginia.

The Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival will be Saturday, January 25 at the Troy Center Theater on the campus of Troy University. Storytelling concerts will be at 10 a.m. ($10), 2 p.m. ($15) and 6:30 p.m. ($10). All day tickets are $30.

The Friday night concert at the We Piddle Around Theater in Brundidge is sold out.

For tickets call, 334-685-5524 and 670-6302. Tickets are available at The Messenger.

The Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival is paid for in part by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.