Frequently Asked Questions

Tickets

  

Tickets are available for purchase in our webstore or by calling us at (800)952-839. Pre-Registration ends Friday, September 27. Walk-in Registration begins Thursday, October 3rd at 8:30 am at the Jonesborough Visitors Center. 

Where do I pick up my tickets? 

To obtain your Festival, Yarnspinners’ Party, Ghost Story and After Hours tickets, please bring your confirmation receipt or ID to Festival Registration located in the Jonesborough Visitors Center at 117 Boone Street, Jonesborough, TN 37659. Registration hours are: 

  • Thursday, October 3, 8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m. 
  • Friday, October 4, 8:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. 
  • Saturday, October 5, 8:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. 
  • Sunday, October 6, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. 

All tickets will be given to the person who purchased the tickets unless other arrangements have been made. We are not able to hold tickets for part of a group. If your group is traveling separately, you may want to designate a place and time to meet in Jonesborough. 

Tickets to the Pre-Festival concerts on Wednesday and Thursday nights will be picked up at the Library Tent venue up to 90 minutes prior to the beginning of the concert.  

Tickets to any performances that are held in the theater at the International Storytelling Center will be picked up at the ISC on the day of the show. Doors open 30 minutes prior to each performance. All performances are general seating.  

Workshop participants will report to the International Storytelling Center on the day of the workshop within 30 minutes of the beginning of the workshop.  

To obtain your Festival, Yarnspinners’ Party, Ghost Story and After Hours tickets, please bring your confirmation receipt or ID to Festival Registration located in the Jonesborough Visitors Center at 117 Boone Street, Jonesborough, TN 37659. Registration hours are: 

  • Thursday, October 3, 8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m. 
  • Friday, October 4, 8:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. 
  • Saturday, October 5, 8:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. 
  • Sunday, October 6, 8:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. 

All tickets will be given to the person who purchased the tickets unless other arrangements have been made. We are not able to hold tickets for part of a group. If your group is traveling separately, you may want to designate a place and time to meet in Jonesborough. 

Tickets to the Pre-Festival concerts on Wednesday and Thursday nights will be picked up at the Library Tent venue up to 90 minutes prior to the beginning of the concert.  

Tickets to any performances that are held in the theater at the International Storytelling Center will be picked up at the ISC on the day of the show. Doors open 30 minutes prior to each performance. All performances are general seating.  

Workshop participants will report to the International Storytelling Center on the day of the workshop within 30 minutes of the beginning of the workshop.  

All ticket sales are final. If you are unable to attend the Festival, you may make a written request to transfer your 2024 Festival ticket to the 2025 Festival. Transfers are one-time only and must be made prior to the ticket date. Alternatively, you can make a taxdeductible donation to the NSF for the amount of your ticket, if it is done in the same year in which you purchased your ticket.Individual concert tickets are not eligible for transfer. 

Requests for changes in the number of days you plan to attend or the kind of ticket you purchased may be made when you arrive at Festival Registration at the Jonesborough Visitors Center.   

What Kind of Weather Can We Expect? 

October weather in East Tennessee is hard to predict. Temperatures can range from 55-85 degrees during the day and 35-55 degrees at night. Since fall weather is so variable, please check the forecast before coming to Jonesborough. We suggest dressing in layers and bringing rain gear. Since the regular programming is inside tents, storytelling continues rain or shine! 

Parking

Beginning Friday, you may park your vehicle at Jonesborough Elementary School located at 306 Forest Drive. Enter the parking area from US Highway 11-E and ride a shuttle to the Jonesborough Visitors Center where Festival Registration is located. The school is located 0.8 miles from Festival Registration. The shuttle runs to the Jonesborough Visitors Center beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The shuttle makes a continuous loop during Festival programming and ends after the last performance each day. The fee to park is $5 per car and proceeds benefit the David Crockett Band Boosters and the Jonesborough Elementary PTA. The shuttle is $1 per person each way (5 and under free). View a map of the Festival grounds. 

A few parking spaces are available on Festival grounds for people with limited mobility who carry valid disabled parking credentials on their vehicle.  Maps that show this parking are available at the Visitors Center orby viewing the map of the Festival grounds here. Parking spaces are first come first served. If parking in town cannot be found, the driver can drop off their passengers at the Jonesborough Visitors Center, drive to the school and ride the shuttle back. The Jonesborough Elementary School is 0.8 miles from the Jonesborough Visitors Center. Limited golf cart shuttle service will be available during the Festival.  

Travel

A list of area hotels and motels is available on the Plan Your Trip page along with a list of campsites. Book early.

Jonesborough is easy to reach by car. From Interstates 81 and 26, Jonesborough is located along U.S. Highway 11 E. It is 15 minutes southwest of Johnson City, 25 minutes northeast of Greenville, and 90 minutes east of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Call (800)952-8293 or email customerservice@storytellingcenter.net to receive a list of pet boarding locations near Jonesborough.

The Tri-Cities Regional Airport is located less than 20 miles from Jonesborough. Carriers include Allegiant, Delta Connection, and US Airways Express. The McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee is located roughly 100 miles from Jonesborough. The Asheville Regional Airport in Asheville, North Carolina is located about 75 miles south of Jonesborough.

Accessibility

A few parking spaces are available on Festival grounds for people with limited mobility who carry valid disabled parking credentials on their vehicle.  Maps that show this parking are available at the Visitors Center or by viewing the map of the Festival grounds here. Parking spaces are first come first served. If parking in town cannot be found, the driver can drop off their passengers at the Jonesborough Visitors Center, drive to the school and ride the shuttle back. The Jonesborough Elementary School is 0.8 miles from the Jonesborough Visitors Center. Limited golf cart shuttle service will be available during the Festival. 

The Medicine Shoppe at 1238 E Jackson Blvd, Jonesborough, TN 37659

423-753-2441

Yes! Nationally certified interpreters will interpret throughout the Festival weekend. For more information, call our offices at 800-952-8392.

During the Festival

October weather in East Tennessee is hard to predict. Temperatures can range from 55-85 degrees during the day and 35-55 degrees at night. Since fall weather is so variable, please check the forecast before coming to Jonesborough. We suggest dressing in layers and bringing rain gear. Since the regular programming is inside tents, storytelling continues rain or shine!

Five, large circus-type tents are erected in downtown Jonesborough, with general admission seating in each tent. Attendees simply choose which performances they want to attend. The tents are all located within walking distance of each other. When you pick up your ticket at registration, you will be given a Festival program which will include the daily schedule and a map of the Festival grounds.

Regular Festival programming is scheduled from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. Daytime sessions are one hour long, with 30-minute breaks between them. 

The tent schedule for tellers will be posted on our website two weeks prior to the beginning of the Festival and can be found in your program when you pick up your tickets.

Please don’t save groups of seats between performances by placing items on them. Tent monitors will clear items from chairs between performances. You may save one seat for your companion.

Pets are not allowed on the Festival grounds with the exception of service dogs trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Under the guidelines of the ADA, the work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals.

These are special concerts held on Friday and Saturday evening from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. They run simultaneously with regular programming and are held outdoors with ground seating. We suggest you wear warm clothing and bring blankets or chairs. Ghost Story concerts require a separate ticket and will take place rain or shine. Tickets are $10 each.

After Hours is a late-night storytelling concert for adults. Since the concert consists of performances on adult themes, we do not sell children’s tickets for this event. It begins at 10:00 p.m. and runs about 90 minutes.  After Hours requires a separate ticket. Tickets are $20 each.

Alcoholic beverages are not allowed on Festival grounds except in the Wine and Beer Garden located on the ISC plaza where they are available for purchase from 4-8 p.m., Thursday through Saturday.

Audio recordings and videotaping are prohibited in performance tents except by authorized media representatives. Photography for personal use is permitted in performance tents, if no flash is used and taking the photograph does not distract or interfere with the storyteller’s performance. Please refrain from standing while taking pictures during a performance.

 Please be sure all cellular phones and electronic devices are silenced while performances are underway.

Two Festival food courts offer a variety of foods including vegetarian items.  Conveniently located in the heart of the Festival, food court hours are 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Public restrooms are located in the Storytelling Center, the Visitors Center, and between the Courthouse and Creekside tents. Portable restrooms are located throughout Festival grounds. Many of these locations can accommodate wheelchairs.

The Festival Marketplace and the International Storytelling Center Gift Shop are the official sites for a wide variety of teller resources, souvenirs and storytelling books. You’ll want to shop the extensive inventory for all your storytelling needs! The hours for the Festival Marketplace are: Thursday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Friday & Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday – 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Gift Shop hours are Thursday – Saturday – 8:30 am to 8:00 pm and Sunday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm.

Other

Graduate or undergraduate credit for attending the festival may be arranged through East Tennessee State University’s Storytelling Program in the Communication and Performance Department. For more information, contact Storytelling Program Coordinator Nancy Donoval at (423) 439-7863 or Donoval@etsu.edu.

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