Brad Jennings tells a story at York Story Slam in January 2016. Brad won that evening, and later won the 2016 Grand Slam, and has MC’ed our Grand Slam most of the years since then. Photo by Digital Ephemera Photography
A letter from York Story Slam founder and producer, JJ Sheffer…
By the start of 2015, I’d already been a Moth Radio Hour listener for quite some time. I asked google where I could find live storytelling events near me so that I could experience them in person. By beautiful coincidence, Lancaster Story Slam had just begun over at Tellus360. I started attending monthly, and also went to West Chester Story Slam whenever my schedule allowed. I quickly found community in these events, and made friends with the producers. Before long, I enlisted their help to start a series in York (so much gratitude to Carla Wilson and Jim Breslin). With a modest grant from the Cultural Alliance of York County and use of the newly-opened rear space at Holy Hound Taproom, York Story Slam was born.
The events sold out every month for many years, and we heard so many stories from our neighbors. Since 2016, we have called four different venues home, welcomed more than 7,100 attendees, and hosted 10 - soon to be 11 - annual Grand Slams in the beautiful Capitol Theatre at the Appell Center for Performing Arts. We hosted monthly virtual slams in partnership with Lancaster Story Slam throughout 2020 and 2021, giving people a way to connect and share stories during a deeply isolating era. And we hosted other one-off events, such as a York Fringe Festival story slam and a crisp fall night of curated night of storytelling about nature and the outdoors at Columbia Crossing, overlooking the Susquehanna River. We got to pay a fantastic roster of creatives - photographers, videographers, podcast producers, and a wonderful audio engineer - along the way, and increased business by as much as 500% on event nights for the venues.
But the number I’m most proud of: we had more than 1,100 names in the hat. That’s 1,100 true, personal stories shared with neighbors – friends, acquaintances, and strangers – in the safe space York Story Slam provided every month. Storytelling is a wonderful way to get to know others in your community; to uncover things you have in common with your neighbors, and to recognize and understand our differences. We heard powerful stories, redemption stories, heartbreaking stories, joyous stories, and stories of everyday life. We shared moments of sorrow and grief, levity and laughter, and stories to which we could deeply relate.
Sarah Chain tells a story at the June 2026 story Slam. Sarah has been a participant, volunteer, and supporter throughout York Story Slam’s entire eleven years.
Photo by Roque Visuals.
We’ve decided to discontinue York Story Slam after the 2026 Grand Slam. Discontinuing YSS will give me the time and bandwidth to bring back other enroot programs that have been on hiatus; namely, PechaKucha Night York and SkillSwap. Sign up for our newsletter so you’ll receive notice about these and other programs we run; if you enjoyed York Story Slam, you’ll love our other programming, too.
If you miss York Story Slam, I hope you’ll join us for Lancaster Story Slam at Zoetropolis on the fourth Friday of each month.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing your stories over the years. For being willing to be vulnerable and willing to listen. It’s been an honor to host these events. I am grateful for the people I’ve met because of York Story Slam, and for the relationships the series has fostered among those who attend. We did something great together, every month, for a very long time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
XOXO
JJ
PS -
Tickets are still available for our Grand Slam on November 17 at the Appell Center. Please join us in giving York Story Slam the send-off it deserves.
