photo by: Contributed photo

Tonganoxie's Keyta Kelly is presented the traveling trophy April 27, 2017, at the Kansas Storytelling Festival in Downs.

Tellers of larger-than-life stories are invited to share their tall tales this weekend in Tonganoxie for a chance to win a spot in next spring’s Kansas Storytelling Festival.

Tonganoxie is one of three sites in the state that will hold preliminary tall tale competitions to determine who gets into the state contest in April. The qualifier, which is free, starts at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Tonganoxie Community Historical Society museum, 201 W. Washington St., and is sponsored by the Tonganoxie Arts Council.

Each contestant will get five to seven minutes to tell a tall tale — a larger-than-life story full of unbelievable elements that are told as if they were true and factual. The rules say that “professional storytellers” are not eligible to compete, and that both a panel of judges and the reaction of the audience will be used to decide the winner.

One qualifier will be selected from Tonganoxie to move on to the statewide Kansas Storytelling Festival on April 24 and 25, 2026, in Downs, which is in Osborne County in north central Kansas on U.S. Highway 24, about a 90-minute drive northwest of Salina.

There, they will compete with other qualifiers from around the state for the coveted traveling trophy — a shovel.

Tonganoxie resident Keyta Kelly won the title in 2015, 2016 and 2017. If a participant wins the award three times, that person is deemed a master storyteller and must retire from the competition.

Saturday’s qualifier competition itself starts at 5 p.m. Judging and dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. The 1866 food truck will be on site, and the Tonganoxie Arts Council will also provide drinks and desserts; donations are encouraged for those items. Results will be announced at 7:30 p.m., and storyteller and comedian Paul Strickland will perform at 7:35 p.m.

If you can’t make the Tonganoxie competition, or if you didn’t qualify and want another chance to tell your tale, there will be two more qualifiers coming up: one on Sept. 20 in Wichita at the Mid-America All-Indian Museum, 650 N. Seneca St., and one on Oct. 11 in Downs at the Zion Lutheran Church, 1019 Blunt St. One qualifier will be selected at the Wichita event, and two qualifiers will be selected in Downs.

Interested individuals can enter any of the events, or all of them if they’ve not already been selected for the state competition. To register, go to the Kansas Storytelling Festival’s Facebook page at facebook.com/KansasStorytellingFestival or the festival’s website at kansasstorytellingfestival.com. You can also find the festival’s complete rules on the website.