Pike Piddlers Storytelling festival comes to Troy

by Katelyn Smith

Featuring Bil Lepp, Tim Lowry, Donald Davis, and Barbara McBride-Smith, the Pike Piddlers Storytelling festival was filled with stories to tell. 

The festival is an annual event where entertainers tell their wildest, most interesting stories to an audience, complete with props and dramatic voices. The two-day event took place Friday and Saturday at The Trojan Center Theater at Troy University, and it cost $25 a ticket.

Bil Lepp, an entertainer from West Virginia, said he loves the work he does on stage. 

“I love storytelling, it’s been my full-time job for over 20 years,” Lepp said. “Being on stage is just about my favorite thing to do.” 

Laughter and happiness rang around the room during Lepp’s story. It recounted his days in his mischievous childhood with his friends and their adventures with a fort, a mile-long water hose and a goat. 

Lepp spoke about how he and his friends built a fort in the woods, and borrowed their neighbors water hose to get water to it. Their antics were forgotten momentarily, as Lepp spoke about his time in church, a stained-glass picture of Jesus looking over him. 

However, the story comes to a complete circle when an accidental explosion causes the goat, long forgotten about, to fall from the sky. 

“Now, I’m not trying to tell people how to live their life, but if you’re ever standing there and a goat plops out of the sky and everyone looks at you, you’re living right.” Lepp said. 

Tim Lowry, from South Carolina, started entertaining when he was around six years old. With themes of persistence and hard work, his story highlights the traits Lowry deems important for success. 

“God worked so hard that he had to rest on the second day, and if God can work hard, why can’t you?” Lowry said.  

Neecy Ridge, from Troy, Alabama, has been attending the Storytelling Festival for a long time and speaks of the simple joy this festival brings.  

 “It’s like being at the dinner table when the meal is over, and the elders start telling their stories,” Ridge said. “It’s like coming home.”