Menlo Park's Storytelling Festival Ends November 21. Its Fourth-Tuesday Story Swap Keeps Going.

As of this Thursday, the Menlo Park Library's 11th Annual Storytelling Festival has six events left on its calendar. Five are in person at 800 Alma Street and one is on Zoom, and every one is free. The first of them is an evening where anyone can stand up and tell a story. On Tuesday, October 27, the library starts what the city calls a "New Monthly Event!"

The festival closes on November 21. The meetup is booked for the fourth Tuesday of every month after that. It is run by Southbay Storytellers and Listeners, a group that held its first Tellabration more than two decades before this festival began. This fall the library's storytelling program and that older network started sharing a room on a regular schedule, and the rest of the festival lets a listener in October become a teller by Thanksgiving.

October 27 Is the First Fourth Tuesday

The 4th Tuesday Stories meetup runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma St. It is free and open to families and adults. You can tell a story alone or with someone else, or just listen. The listing names the kinds of material that fit: lore, oral histories, personal stories, fables, satire and parody, and multilingual folk tales.

The following dates are already posted, each with its own theme. November 24 is "Thanks" and December 22 is "Holiday," both on the same 6 to 7:30 p.m. schedule in the same building. The December date comes a month after the festival's last event, so the meetup is already scheduled to outlast the festival.

The hosts describe the format on their own site as story-swap meetings held "in person and via Zoom each month on the fourth Tuesday from 6 to 7:30 pm at the Menlo Park Library," and they say visitors "are always welcome to listen and to tell." The Zoom option is the hosts' detail and does not appear on the library's listing. That page also names Tom and Sandy Farley, who perform together as Spontaneous Combustion, as the people to contact for more about the meetings and the tellers in the group.

A Group Older Than the Festival It Joined

Menlo Park's festival is fairly new. The Almanac reported in 2019 that the library was starting its fourth annual series that September, with free events backed by the Friends of the Menlo Park Library. InMenlo wrote in November 2023 about the eighth festival, which ended with a two-hour live StoryFest on Zoom featuring professional and youth tellers joining from several countries. This year is the 11th.

Southbay Storytellers and Listeners goes back much further. Its November 21 event will be its 35th annual Tellabration story concert. According to the National Storytelling Network, Tellabration began in 1988, when Connecticut storyteller J.G. Pinkerton designed it as a fundraiser to bring new listeners to storytelling. The first one took place in six Connecticut towns, and it later spread across the country and abroad. The South Bay group's version has run for most of that history. This year's concert honors three decades of mentorship by Joy Swift, one of the group's founders.

The group calls itself a Silicon Valley network "dedicated to making storytelling a vital part of our community and improving our storytelling and listening skills," and it sponsors the Silicon Valley Storytelling Meetup. On its Tellabration page, the library says this monthly meetup is "now taking place on the 4th Tuesday evening of each month at Menlo Park Library." The festival's closing event and the new monthly meetup come from the same group.

The Calendar From Here to November 21

These are the festival events still ahead as of this Thursday, with times from each event page and age guidance from the festival schedule.

Enid Davis's workshop on November 15 connects listening and telling. Davis covers what storytelling is and where it comes from, shares a tale of her own and helps participants build confidence and technique. No experience is needed. Davis spent 18 years with the Santa Clara County Library District and 18 years at The Harker School after training as a librarian. She now teaches drama at Avenidas and writes for, directs and teaches the Wise Owl Players.

The city ties the workshop and Tellabration together directly. Its festival announcement says the workshop may prepare "the brave to contribute to the closing Tellabration!™ event on Nov. 21." The Tellabration page asks people to "join us to listen, or perhaps to contribute a tale, yourself!" The listing does not mention signing up ahead of time to tell. Someone who attends the meetup on October 27 and the workshop on November 15 will have practiced telling twice before the festival's biggest open floor.

Choosing Among the Remaining Dates

The events vary by audience and time of day, which narrows the choice quickly.

• For younger children: John Weaver's Pumpkin Tales on Thursday, November 5, starts at 2:30 p.m. and lasts 45 minutes. Weaver turns familiar tales into pumpkin stories in a silly, action-packed style meant for both kids and adults. The library calls him its resident storyteller. He is a parent and an early-childhood educator who performs around the Bay Area and beyond.
• To stay home: StoryFest Online on Thursday, November 12, brings live tellers from Sacramento, the Central Valley and Gold Country, including members and friends of three storytelling groups. You need to register through the "Register via Zoom" link on the StoryFest event page to get the meeting link.
• For older kids and adults who like a chill: Jeff Gere's Monday evening set on November 16 features purportedly true supernatural tales drawn from modern island life, ancient spirits, stones, bones and Pele. He promises "fun chillers." Gere tours internationally as a storyteller and puppeteer. He is a retired drama specialist for the Honolulu Parks Department and the longtime producer and host of Hawaii's Talk Story Festival.
• For an adult audience with kids along: Tellabration on November 21 is aimed at adults. School-age children are welcome with an adult. The Southbay group says its concert will be held in person and on Zoom.

None of the in-person listings gives a room number or registration steps, so plan on simply arriving at 800 Alma Street at the posted time.

Who Pays, and What Comes After

All nine festival events are free because the Friends of the Menlo Park Library fund them. The Almanac's 2019 coverage named the same Friends group as the sponsor, so it has backed the series for most of its history.

When the festival ends, the meetup does not depend on a festival budget. It is a regular gathering of a group that has met for decades, now scheduled at the main library. The next two dates after Tellabration are November 24 and December 22, both Tuesdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with the themes "Thanks" and "Holiday." According to the city, storytelling is "not necessarily for children," and the fourth-Tuesday meetup welcomes families and adults.

The festival's official dates and the start of the monthly meetup are the city's, posted on the 11th Annual Storytelling Festival page. The schedule beyond December belongs to the storytellers.

At Luxuriant Realty, we keep track of the gatherings that make Menlo Park feel like home, from the library's November calendar to the evenings that continue after a festival ends. If you'd like to know more about the community around your home, we'd be glad to share what we know. Elevate Your Lifestyle—Request a Personalized Consultation.