History of the Sandcastle Story Tellers

The Sandcastle Storytellers happened as the result of a desire to preserve and perpetuate the ancient art of storytelling. Fifteen years ago, seven women joined together to discuss a program that would help them introduce this form of oral presentation of old folk and fairy tales, myths and legends and tales from other cultures and countries; as well as their own personal stories.

Our very first public performance �Tellabration� was in a small auditorium of The Blind Center, Daytona Beach. The increase in the audience numbers had us seek larger seating, so we used the Museum Of Arts And Sciences, Daytona Beach for several years. More recently we have held this yearly event in several places, Shoestring Theater, Lake Helen, Free Will Holiness Church, Daytona Beach, Atlantic high Auditorium, Port Orange, outdoor pavilion, City Center Park, Port Orange, The Blind Center and several library auditoriums. Each time we were in a new area, we had new comers remark how much they enjoyed the program, that they always thought storytelling was only for children!

Today our membership stands at 39 (6 of the 7 Charter members are still active) 30 adult Tellers, 4 Junior tellers, 4 supporting members and 1 Honorary Lifetime Member. We are a diverse group from a variety of career choices: Engineers, retired Military, Writers, Librarians, Counselors, Teachers, professional Storytellers, Homemakers, etc. who share the love of the age - old form of oral communication.

Our members have given �free� performances in schools to the Young, Author�s Awards program, National Book Week and DARE awards program and for the American Lung Assn.�s �Dangers of Smoking� for Children. We have raised money by doing benefit performances for: The House Next Door, Deland, The Habitat Project, St. Ann�s Church, Debary and The Deland BPW Scholarship Fund. Many of our members took part in the program �Storytelling Just Like Magic� the history of African Americans in America during Black History Month.

Our meetings are open to the public, �The Open Mike/ Story Swap� at the Boston Gourmet Coffee House, Deland on Saturday evenings at 7:30 P.M. and the monthly meeting at Barnes & Noble Book Store, Daytona Beach on the last Friday of each month at 7:30 P.M.

We became a registered Incorporation in 1995 and gained non-profit (501 C3) status in 1999.

Our goal of promoting, preserving and perpetuating storytelling is an ongoing process. With every performance we gain new listeners to add to the growing number of supporters of this oral presentation of literature and stories. Teachers find it useful in their classrooms to give life to the written word and students become better listeners. Counselors and Mental Health Therapists use story in their client�s treatment. We will continue to tell our stories and give our support to all who strive to enrich our heritage by keeping this age old art alive.

We will be giving our yearly performance of �Stories from the Heart� at the Sands Theater, Cultural Arts Center, Deland on February 9 ,2002 at 7:30 P.M. We have 14 terrific tellers all fired up to give a great show. Tickets are only $5.00 and will be available from members or at the Box Office in the theater Center.