Courage? Vulnerability? Active self-empowerment? The TELL brings individuals together in a community built on sharing personal experiences.
Originating in 2012, the unscripted storytelling event was one of many community gatherings that ended abruptly at the beginning of 2020 with the COVID-19 outbreak. Now, four years later, enthusiasts are looking at a reboot of this unique community experience.
“I was there at the very beginning,” Carol Kapaun Ratchenski, one of the early supporters of The TELL, said “My niece was in town from San Francisco and we were walking around the Street Fair and saw a sign. And we’re like, ‘Oh, what’s that?’ We literally stumbled in and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m never missing this. This is the best live event in Fargo!’ I just kept going and inviting people to go with me.”
What Carol stumbled into was a monthly event structured around sharing stories that ran the gamut from humor to pathos and back again. Each month had a different theme and attendees wishing to share would put their names into a hat. Names would be drawn and the lucky few were given an opportunity to share about six minutes based on that month’s theme. Examples included record titles, like “99 Problems” and “You ain’t seen nothing yet.” The direction was simple. The story had to be both true and personal.
“I learned so much about people that you just wouldn’t from general conversation, some of them I had known for years,” said Co-organizer Stacy Nicolson, one of the new organizers.
Three judges from the community— including local writers and college professors—would select a winning story for the evening by secret ballot. At the end of a storytelling cycle, a TELL-Off would invite the monthly winners to share a final story to determine the overall winner for the year, who then received a small prize.
“Some people were kind of prepared with a story, with a little bit of an arc; beginning, middle, and end. But some would just come and throw their name in the hat,” Carol said. “For example, a good friend of mine would throw her name in the hat every time, without having even thought of a story. She was just like, ‘Well, if that’s the game we’re playing, I’m putting in.’”
While the event is clearly structured, the simple rule of sharing a true and personal story is credited with creating an organic-feeling community environment.
“It’s hard not to care about people when you are like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’ve been through all that.’ Or ‘I had no idea you were so funny. I had no idea you did that, as well,” Stacy said.
“It’s definitely community building,” Laurie Baker, another co-organizer said. “It’s the shared sense that we are all imperfect and wonderful.”
“We’ve all really missed that sense of community,” Laurie said. “Since 2020, we’ve talked about it, that somebody ought to do something. Something’s missing when you don’t have a storytelling event.”
An organizing committee was formed and the group of dedicated volunteers have united to reboot The Tell starting June 13 at a new venue—The Cellar 624, The Venue on Main is located within the landmark de Lendrecie’s building and is an accessible space, beautifully renovated, yet retaining its historic character. The event will be hosted on the second Thursday of the month from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., with the final Tell-off being held in December. Anyone is welcome to attend and put their name in the hat to share a story if they wish. Each event will also be hosted by a local MC and feature a different local musician each time.
The TELL became the April 2024 grantee of the Cass Clay chapter of the Awesome Foundation by anonymous vote. Awesome Cass Clay had celebrated the end of their first successful year of giving by sponsoring the original The TELL event, one of only two official sponsorships in the group’s history. Seven years later, the $1000 grant provided will go toward providing the stage needed to get the event reboot off the ground.
Adults 18 and up are invited to attend one or all of the events and participate if they have a story to share.
“I think most people find it terrifying to share a story,” Laurie said. “And do it anyway. For me, it’s really an act of self-empowerment. I think it takes courage for absolutely everybody who gets up there to stand up and share—and it’s also super fun and rewarding.”
“For the event to happen, people have to tell their stories,” Carol said. “I think it’s really generous of people to be that vulnerable.”
The theme for June is “Starting Over,” with “Revolution” to follow for July. For more information check out their Facebook page:
Facebook | /TheTellFargo
The Cass-Clay chapter of the Awesome Foundation awards a $1,000 gift each month for awesome ideas of all sorts. Grant recipients do not need to be associated with a nonprofit. Applications can be made at awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/cassclay.