Storytelling competitions join Fair lineup

GEDDES, N.Y. » The Great New York State Fair will launch a new, two-day event featuring the increasingly popular art form of storytelling on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Both events will begin at 6 p.m. in the Empire Theater of the Art & Home Center and are free of charge.

Friday night’s event will be a competition called The Great New York State Story Slam, in which 10 people will be chosen at random from audience members who have either pre-registered here or who sign up at the event. They will each have five minutes to tell a true story from their lives focused on the chosen theme of the evening: Life in New York State. Judges will choose three storytellers to receive medals and gift baskets of New York products from Taste NY, Governor Cuomo’s program highlighting products grown and made in New York State.

Saturday’s event, titled “Unravel,” will feature three true tales from master storytellers, each of whom will tell longer stories. Comedy improvisation troupes will perform after each story. Among the storytellers is Sean Kirst, author and columnist for the Buffalo News and former columnist for the Syracuse Post-Standard. He will also serve as a judge for Friday night’s story slam.

“Every year, we have continued to increase our arts competition portfolio. A spoken-word competition is an excellent addition, given the growing popularity of storytelling radio and podcast programs, and public storytelling performances,” said Troy Waffner, Acting Fair Director.

Public radio station WRVO will sponsor the event. The station will record all performances and air selected performances in a special program. The Fair’s coordinators for this event are Genevieve Sponsler, who has worked with storytelling event producer The Moth, and Michelle Stantial, co-founder of the monthly Salt City Story Slam.

The Fair runs more than 70 competitions in a vari- ety of disciplines, including agriculture, sports and the arts. Arts competitions include the annual Fine Arts competition in painting, drawing and sculpture; Arts & Crafts competitions in disciplines including quilting, stained glass and jewelry; culinary competitions; and creative arts competitions such as poetry.

The New York State Fair, operated by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, runs from August 22 to September 3, 2018. The Fair’s mission, reflected in its theme, “FIND YOUR GREAT,” is to showcase the best of New York agriculture while providing top- quality entertainment.

The home of the Great New York State Fair is a 375-acre exhibit and entertainment complex that operates all year. A year-round schedule of events is available on the Fair’s website. Find The Great New York State Fair on Facebook, follow @NYSFair on Twitter, on Snapchat at nysfair and enjoy photos from the Fair at Flickr.com/photos/nysfair. Also, New Yorkers are invited to send their ideas for the Great New York State Fair atstatefairideas@agriculture.ny.gov.