Here are some events happening in Downtown Cary that caught our eye. You can always check in with our friends at the Town of Cary for more events.
2026 Old North State Story Telling Festival: Showcase 1
Join us for our two-day festival to experience the power of live storytelling. Acclaimed storytellers will present two hours of stories and music to entertain and warm your heart. Each showcase will feature unique stories from each teller listed below.
MO REYNOLDS tells stories that spark imagination and start conversations. Since her breakout on the Exchange Place stage at the National Storytelling Festival in 2022, she has returned to the National twice and won over audiences at festivals across the country. Braiding folk tales with personal narrative, Mo brings reflection, laughter, and insight in equal measure. Known online as “Miss Mo Storyteller,” she travels the world through story — a new tale every week, a new country every month.
REV. ROBERT B. JONES, SR. is a renaissance man: a professional musician for over forty years, an ordained Baptist pastor for more than twenty, and a nationally recognized storyteller for over fifteen- and he brings all three to the stage at once. An award-winning musician, he was named a leading blues educator by the National Blues Foundation and is a Kresge Arts Fellow and Michigan Heritage Award recipient. At the heart of his work: our cultural diversity tells a story worth celebrating.
CHARLOTTE BLAKE-ALSTON For more than thirty years, Charlotte Blake-Alston has carried the stories of African and African American oral tradition from the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian to festivals on four continents- accompanied by djembe, mbira, and the 21- stringed kora. The first storyteller ever to perform with The Philadelphia Orchestra, she is now its Official Storyteller, Narrator and Host, and hosted Carnegie Hall’s Family Concert Series for seventeen seasons. Her honors include a Pew Fellowship and the Zora Neale Hurston Award, the highest given by the National Association of Black Storytellers.
ANDY RUSSELL grew up in North Carolina in a family full of natural storytellers, and it shows- his tales of grandparents, cane-pole fishing, and music with friends land with warmth and a songwriter’s ear for a good line, honed during his years in Nashville. Reigning StorySlam Champion of Six Feet Apart Productions, he has appeared at the Georgia Mountain, Stone Soup, and Cracker storytelling festivals. He lives in Ocala with his dog and a three-legged cat.
A special SENSORY FRIENDLY Showcase on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m.
All performances are family-friendly.