"Back in the day when I was your age." This was something Grandpa always told you when he was about to tell you an epic story about something great. It was usually about how he walked to and from school, uphill both ways in the snow. Either way, you sat down and you paid attention. For the fact that no matter how crazy the story sounded, Grandpa's stories were something that you were going to remember for the rest of your life. Like Grandpa, Tacoma has some pretty unique storytellers as well, but we have found a way to celebrate them and put their words in a spotlight.

The spotlight is the Creative Colloquy Crawl. Events like the Colloquy Crawl isn't a new idea. Seattle has had similar events going on for decades. Tacoma's literary geniuses had to ask themselves, "why couldn't we?" In that light, Jackie Fender and her team got together, and about four years ago the Colloquy Crawl was born. The purpose of this crawl was to get people excited about storytelling and hear other storytellers in the area. This is more of a storytelling festival than anything. However, unlike most festivals, the Colloquy Crawl has something for everyone, young and old, to enjoy.

The event starts happening at 6 p.m. at the venue of your choice, depending on your literary interests. One Person's Trash is being hosted by the Mix, and is an evening of homeless stories. On a lighter note, King's Book Store is hosting Puget Sound Poetry Connection. Also at six, the Union Club is hosting New York Times best-selling author Marissa Meyer. There are two other venues hosting two other events in that hour. You rotate to another venue after the hour and that continues till 9 p.m. At 9 p.m., the crowd favorite is the after-party at Black Kettle. This is the time where everyone gets together to talk about their work, and this gives the community a chance to talk to the writers that they have listened to all night. There are seven venues participating in the crawl, four of the seven venues are 21 and older.

We asked Jackie what she wanted people to know about this crawl, she responded with "this is just a really rad community of people." Not only is this a rad community of people, it cost you nothing to come and participate. Unless you want a beer from the Harmon Tap Room, which is highly recommended.

Creative Colloquy Crawl, 6-9 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 3, downtown Tacoma, creativecolloquy.com