We are our stories. Our histories, tragedies, comedies, hopes, dreams, worlds, beliefs, our universe. Our stories define us as humans and without them we are lost and rudderless. The Library is a dynamic repository of stories and I’m thrilled we can “localize” to this ancient, vital and living tradition of storytelling.

-- Bill Baars, Director, Lake Oswego Public Library

Become a part of history by sharing your Lake Oswego story with us.  We will begin collecting new oral histories from community members during the week of the storytelling festival.  If you have a story that you’d like to share, please submit your name and contact information to a reference librarian by phone 503-675-2540 or email loref@ci.oswego.or.us  Interviewees will be asked to fill out a pre-interview questionnaire before being scheduled for an interview.  Interviews last between 30-45 minutes and are conducted by trained staff and volunteers.

Wondering what an oral history sounds like?  Click here to listen to the unabridged oral history recordings conducted by Lake Oswego Public Library staff and volunteers in 1976 and published in the book In Their Own Words.

Pass the Word: A Toolbox for Storytellers
A workshop with Storyteller Will Hornyak

Whether you’re crafting a personal story, telling a traditional folktale or looking to improve your professional presentations, this experiential workshop will provide exercises, techniques and tools for developing your storytelling voice and bringing characters, settings and ideas to life. We will consider how to create strong beginnings and endings and how to tell stories to a variety of audiences.  Participants will leave with a better understanding of how to create a storytelling performance program for children and adults. This workshop is appropriate for all levels of storytelling experience and includes hand-out materials. 

Location: Oswego Heritage House

Space is limited.  Please register by phone: 503-675-2540 or email: loref@ci.oswego.or.us

Grandma, Tell Me a Story: A Workshop for Grandparents and Parents
with Storytellers Terry Jordan and Anne Rutherford

A time-honored joy of family life is captured in the special moments when family stories and traditions are passed onto the younger generation. In this lively, interactive 90-minute workshop we will explore imaginative ways to rekindle the memories and rediscover family history worth passing on. Family stories are invisible treasures, more valuable than heirlooms held in the hand. Family stories are held in the heart.

Workshop Presenters, Anne Rutherford and Terry Jordan will guide participants in ways to reclaim a natural ability that is already present. Be prepared to have fun, practice new skills and walk away with a treasure box of ideas.

Techniques used will include visualization, role-play, writing, gestures, and lots of tricks to spark memories. You will gain a better understanding of skills and principles for telling traditional tales as well as stories from your own life.

Location: Lake Oswego Public Library, Children's Storywell

Space is limited.  Please register by phone: 503-675-2540 or email: loref@ci.oswego.or.us

Performance by Storyteller Esther Stutzman

Esther Stutzman is Coos and Komemma Kalapuya and is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz.  Join her for an evening of Coos and Kalapuya stories.

Her grandmother told her that it was bad luck to tell other people or other tribes' stories. Stories are regarded as private property, as are songs. She has thirteen stories she shares with the public. Some of her creation stories tell of the time when animals and people could talk together.

Location: Lake Oswego Public Library, Main Floor

Genealogy Presentation by the Genealogy Interest Group

Location: Lake Oswego Public Library, Main Floor

The Stories of Our Lives Workshop
with Storyteller Alton Chung

Our stories often tell us and others, not only who we are, but may also strike universal themes.  In this workshop we will take our experiences (the things we did as kids, those funny things which happened to us, the hard things we had to do and what we learned about ourselves doing them) and shape them into stories which we can tell.  We will be focusing on creating the stories as opposed to storytelling techniques.  If you have lived, you have stories worth telling and stories others will want to hear.  Join us for a walk down memory lane as we share a little bit of ourselves through our stories.

Location: Oswego Heritage House

Space is limited.  Please register by phone: 503-675-2540 or email: loref@ci.oswego.or.us

Turning Oswego’s Iron into Gold: 
Paul C. Murphy as Alchemist
by Marylou Colver

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Oswego was a bustling iron manufacturing center. Two of the first iron furnaces on the West Coast were built in Oswego. Oswego’s iron industry collapsed at the end of the nineteenth century. Aided by Paul C. Murphy’s vision, the extensive land holdings of the Oregon Iron & Steel Company were repurposed in the early twentieth century into exclusive residential districts. A golf course, riding trails, a polo field, and swim parks, helped fulfill the promise of the Ladd Estate Company’s sales slogan, “Live where you play.” 

Come hear the fascinating and entertaining story of Lake Oswego’s transformation from an iron plantation into a residential playground.

Location: Lake Oswego Public Library, Main Floor 

The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Thrillers

Master storyteller, Christopher Leebrick, presents a riveting performance of Edgar Allan Poe's masterpiece.  Winner of a 2009 Storytelling World Award.  The show also features other spooky tales from around the globe.

Location: Waluga Masonic Lodge #181

Recommended for adults and teens.

Your History is Our History
Video Contest Reveal

Storytelling Matinee
Featuring Storyteller Rick Huddle and an Open Mike Showcase

When 5-year old Ricky's kindergarten teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he replied, “A clown- so I can make people laugh.” He doesn't wear a red nose or floppy shoes, but
he has made lots of people laugh- tens of thousands of kids and adults- all over the United States and Mexico. He's a captivating storyteller, a gifted dancer, and can play the guitar, dulcimer, 6-string ukulele, and nose harp (but usually not at the same time). He provides fun, lively, and thoughtful performances that leave audiences of all ages laughing.

The matinee will also showcase the stories of workshop participants and audience members who wish to share a 3-5 minute story.  Sign up will begin a half an hour before the program.

Location: Lake Oswego Public Library, Main Floor

The Story of Five Families of Old Town: A Walking Tour
Created and Presented by Marylou Colver and Erin O’Rourke-Meadors

A new approach to Old Town!  The five families that will be featured on this walking tour all came to the Oswego area for different reasons -- an Oregon Trail pioneer lured by free land, ironworkers that left other iron regions in the east to work in Oswego, the wife of a metallurgist, an executive, and an immigrant.  They came from as far away as the Maderia Islands of Portugal and as close as Iowa. Their education level and cultural background varied widely. The common denominator is that all of them, or their descendants, chose to stay, make Oswego their home, and they contributed significantly to the community, the region, and even the state.

Location: Meet at southeast corner of Leonard and Durham Streets

Tour limited to 50 people.  Please register by phone: 503-675-2540 or email: loref@ci.oswego.or.us 

The Age-Old Story Tree:
An Evening of Personal and Traditional Tales in the Spirit of the Season
with Storytellers Leslie Slape, Alton Chung and Will Hornyak

Drawing from the roots of oral histories, personal experiences and storytelling traditions from Japan to Ireland, our featured storytellers will bring the Lake Oswego Storytelling Festival to a close with an evening of stories for mature audiences guaranteed to entertain, inspire and delight.

Location: Lakewood Center for the Arts, Downstairs

The Lake Oswego Public Library Storytelling Festival is made possible by the generous support of the Friends of the Lake Oswego Library. The Lake Oswego Public Library is located at 706 4^th Street, Lake Oswego, Oregon.

For more information visit www.lakeoswegolibrary.org or contact Cyndie Glazer at 503-675-2538 or Alicia Yokoyama at 503-534-5285.