Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Fan-favorite storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin will return to LaGrange on Oct. 20 for the 13th annual Stories in the Garden at Hills and Dales.

The free event from 2-4 p.m. is usually held in the venue’s Pecan Grove, but will be in the area behind the Visitor’s Center under the tulip poplar trees this year.

“Because of the recent storms and the age of the trees in the Pecan Grove, we wanted to ensure the safety  of our guests from potential falling limbs,” said Kirsten Dunn, Azalea Storytelling Director.

Irwin is familiar to LaGrange audiences, having appeared in multiple Storytelling Festivals and events. With an elastic voice and hilarious heart-filled stories,he is equal parts mischievous schoolboy and the Marx Brothers, peppered with a touch of the Southern balladeer.

Hailing from Covington, Ga., Irwin is a storyteller, humorist, singer, songwriter and musician. He has been a featured teller at the National storytelling Festival 11 times, and has appeared 16 times as teller-in-residence at the International Storytelling Center.

Parking for the Azalea Storytelling Festival’s 13th annual “Stories in the Garden” will be in the Hills and Dales Visitor Center parking lot and transportation to the site will be available for those with mobility issues.

Doors will open at 1 p.m. The Dulcimer Troupers will entertain guests at 1:15 p.m.  before the event begins at 2 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

Guests are encouraged to take their own chairs or blankets. In case of rain, the event will be moved indoors to the Visitor Center Great Hall.

For more information, call the Lafayette Society for Performing Arts’ business office at 706-882-9909, or visit our website at LSPArts.org.