About the Story People Of Clallam County

Our Story

In 1992 Josephine Pederson returned to the Olympic Peninsula with a mission. She had retired from her teaching career in California, and devoted herself to promoting storytelling in her home turf of the Olympic Peninsula. She was burning with the desire to share the power and beauty of storytelling here. She joined forces with Elaine Grinnell of the Jamestown Clallam tribe, and with Elsa Johnson of Port Angeles. Together they founded The Story People of Clallam County to promote the art of storytelling on the Olympic Peninsula.

The first Forest Storytelling Festival took place in 1995. The festival has grown and remained popular ever since, and is now flourishing in its current home at Peninsula College. Many dedicated volunteers and sponsors sustain this longest running storytelling festival in the Pacific Northwest.