Deception is typically a quality a woman tries to avoid in a man. In spite of this, Paula Lepp has been married to a liar for 14 years and loving every minute of it.

Paula travels with her husband, Bil, and their two children, Noah, 7 and Ellie, 3, to storytelling festivals across the country. Bil has been a professional storyteller since performing in the National Storytelling Festival in 2000.

Bil is one of five storytellers featured in the Charter Communications presents the Spirit of Athens Storytelling Festival continuing today downtown.

“Off stage he cannot tell a lie or be deceitful to save his life,” Paula said with a laugh.

Her husband always gives the lie away with a red face and grin, she said.

Bil’s hodgepodge of famous lies on stage include tales of baptizing a mountain lion in California, giving his wife the right and wrong gifts, and sewing a hot-air balloon with only a Swiss Army knife and the leaves and trash along the track while going Mach 1 on the back of a train.

Bil is a five-time champion of the West Virginia Liars Contest, a featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival and The Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

“We’re probably the only parents in the United States that encourage their kids to lie,” Paula said. She added that they know the difference between a real lie and a tall tale.

Noah has his father’s gift of gab. He won the junior division of the West Virginia Liar’s Contest this year.

Noah loves storytelling. He likes to be on stage and the fact that “sometimes they give you money,” he said.

“I don’t really go for the money, though,” Noah said. “I go for the fun.”

Noah said it is fun listening to other storytellers at events because it gives him new ideas for his own stories.

The Lepp family believes this event has the potential to become a major festival on the storytelling circuit.

“Athens is a beautiful city,” Paula said. “The festival committee has done an amazing job… It’s such a great setting.”



Featured storytellers

Lepp is one of five storytellers invited to the event, including Donald Davis, Carmen Deedy, Andy Irwin, and Kathryn Windham.

Davis is from the Southern Appalachian Mountains and is best known for his true-to-life stories of his neighbors and kin-folk.

Deedy, of Cuban ancestry, grew up in Decatur, Ga. She tells stories of her family circle while intertwining her unique upbringing.

Irwin is a native of Covington, Ga., and started out in comedy, but added music and storytelling because he had a lot more to say. He has much experience in the arts including being the Artist-In-Residence at Oxford College of Emory University and working with the SAK Theatre at Walt Disney World.

Windham is a master storyteller and is best know for her national public radio segments “All Things Considered.” She is the author of the well-known series of books “13 Ghosts and Jeffrey” and was recently elected the 2007 International Woman of Distinction by Alpha Delta Kappa International Teachers Honorary Organization.

In between storytelling segments, festival-goers can partake in savory food from vendors including Whitt’s Barbeque, Boss Hill’s chicken stew, Athens Lions Club, and many others.

The festival will continue today from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on the square.