SELMA Alabama– The second weekend in October means only one thing in Selma — Riverfront Market and the Alabama Tale-Tellin’ Festival

The two have been going together for the past 30 years and visitors are expected once again to shop on Water Avenue high above the Alabama River or listen to America’s most popular tale tellers a few blocks away.

Riverfront Market began in the late 1970s as a way to attract people to one of the South’s most historic riverfront districts, a place that once attracted the likes of the Marquis De Lafayette and Jesse James.

Although the five-block market area has declined in appearance in recent years, Selma leaders continue to look for ways to rebuild dilapidated structures that have been an embarrassment to the town because of their condition.

Vendors from throughout the Southeast line both sides of Water Avenue, offering everything from food to fashions.

Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children. The event gets under way at 8 a.m. and lasts throughout the day.

The Tale-Tellin’ Festival was the inspiration of Selma native Kathryn Windham, Alabama’s legendary storyteller who returned home this week from Jonesborough, Tenn., where, once again, she was the star of the nation’s largest storytelling festival.

A crowd estimated at about 15,000 listened to tales during a long weekend highlighted by a surprise birthday salute to Windham, who turned 90 earlier this year.

“They kept it from me,” she said. “When I walked into the big tent where I was to tell some tales, 1,600 people took out combs and wax paper to play ‘Happy Birthday’ to me,” she said.

This year’s festival will be held at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Pickard Auditorium on Washington Street, just across the street behind the Selma City Hall.

In addition to Windham, who serves as host once again, storytellers will include the Birmingham-based Dill Pickers, Doloris Hydock and Donald Davis, whose Appalachian experiences have made him one of the most popular storytellers on the national circuit.

“It’s amazing that this thing just keeps going on year after year,” Windham said. “We don’t have any major sponsors. It operates mainly on faith and volunteers.”

Good storytelling isn’t a performance, said Windham, who prefers to see as a way to “relate stories in a relaxed, informal setting.”

At 5:30 each night, just prior to the appearance by professional storytellers, a “Swappin’ Ground” event allows amateurs to try their hand at telling a story or two

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