The Vashon Wilderness Program will present its 10th annual Storytelling Festival at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Vashon Theatre. Doors will open at 12:30 p.m.

In honor of a decade of storytelling, Vashon Wilderness Program (VWP) will host the show, offering free admission to all ages.

The event will include local storytellers spinning captivating yarns and will give audience members the opportunity to tell their own tale in a one-minute story-thon, story improv games and more.

The time-honored tradition of oral storytelling is a core practice at VWP.

“Storytelling is inseparable from human life,” VWP Executive Director Stacey Hinden said. “For generations, we have been telling stor(ies) — be it around a fire to convey lessons for survival, at the dinner table to relay a funny happening from our day or snuggling up in the dark night to whisper a bedtime tale of wonder. The Storytelling Festival will stir the imagination of all who listen, allowing our unconscious to take flight into sensuous realms of magic, myth and hero.”

VWP, a nonprofit, provides nature immersion programs for people of all ages in communities throughout Puget Sound. VWP storytelling mentors “teach and inspire through storytelling to help cultivate a learning community that values each person’s life story.” VWP students practice sharing their story of the day to both deepen their learning journey and discover their authentic voice.

VWP has helped more than 1,100 children, teens and adults transform their lives through Coyote Mentoring, an approach to “deep nature connection mentoring,” which award-winning author Richard Louv called “good medicine for nature deficit disorder.”

VWP also offers free seasonal community celebrations, bringing over 1,000 people together to celebrate connections to each other and the earth.

For more information about the VWP, visit vashonwildernessprogram.org.