Storytelling festival is set for June

The nation's "number one storyteller" from West Virginia, a fiddler from Lubbock, Texas and a singer and teller of Sandhills ranch stories will highlight this year's Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival.

The event is set for McCook June 10-11.

The award winning festival will celebrate its ninth year of stories, poetry, honoring its roots through tales of the Golden Plains in McCook, the Storytelling Capital of Nebraska, as Bil Lepp, Amanda Shires, Andy Wilkinson, and Deb Carpenter, share their stories and wisdom.

Lepp, from West Virginia, is the Nation's Number One storyteller and humorist. The most popular show at the National Storytelling Festival, Lepp keeps standing room only audiences laughing until the tears flow.

Shires, a fiddle player from Lubbock, will bring her own unique style to Andy Wilkinson's original music of the American West. Wilkinson, also from Lubbock, will delight audiences with his wit and wisdom about the Buffalo Commons.

Guitar playing and writing teacher, Carpenter, from Chadron, brings her sweet song to weave poignant stories of growing up on a Sandhills ranch.

The schedule follows:

Friday, June 10

McCook Community College

9 a.m., How to Lie Well - College Storytelling Course master Storytelling and humorist Bil Lepp, and Song Writing and the Great Plains College Course with Andy Wilkinson

Historic Fox Theatre

7:30 p.m., Buffalo Commons Chautauqua with Wilkinson, Shires, Lepp, and Carpenter

Saturday, June 11

High Plains Museum

9 a.m., Cowboy Poetry for the Heart and Soul with Carpenter, Wilkinson, and Driver Dick

10 a.m., Laughter for the Tired and Lame with Bil Lepp

11 a.m., Country Fiddlin' - Cowboy Style with Shires and McCook's own Leanne Miller.

Bieroc Cafe

11 a.m., Buffalo Commons Revisited with Wilkinson

12:30 p.m., Farm and Ranch Stories with Mary Ellen Goodenberger and Walt Sehnert

Norris Park

1:30 p.m., Kids Fest

2:30 p.m., Carpenter performs music for the younger audiences

3 p.m., Music and Storytelling from the Bandshell with Lepp, Carpenter, Wilkinson, Shires, and area tellers and musicians

Historic Fox Theatre

7:30 p.m. The Way the West Has Fun with Lepp and others joining.

For accommodations, motels, bed and breakfast, field trips and ticket information, contact McCook Area Chamber of Commerce, PO Box 337, McCook, NE, 69001; call (800) 657-2179 or (308) 3453200; http://www.buffalocommons.org; or email them at dmandue@ocsmccook.com.