The Story Show on Saturday will feature narratives relating to shelter.

The ninth event starts at 7 p.m. at Marion Ross Arts Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and children.

Show proceeds will go to the Humane Society of Freeborn County.

Organizer Jeremy Corey-Gruenes said Albert Lea Seed House is covering venue expenses.

“It’s awesome that Albert Lea Seed is doing this for us,” Corey-Gruenes said. He encouraged people to come to the show.

“We’ve got some outstanding writers, for one,” he said. “Secondly, The Story Show is a great way to bring the community together and share the stories.”

Eight stories will be shared by Iowa and Minnesota residents:

• “Animals: A Love Story” by Jim Haney. A social studies teacher for 31 years and an Albert Lea cross country coach for 18, Haney and his wife of 29 years, Lisa, have two children.

• “Grandma Marie” by Jen Vogt-Erickson, who lives in Albert Lea with her husband and two children. Vogt-Erickson, co-chairwoman of Friends of the Albert Lea Library, writes Tribune columns for the Freeborn County DFL Party and has lived in outstate Minnesota the majority of her life.

• “Dear Dudley” by Mariah Maras, who works at AmeriNat in Albert Lea.

• “No Worries” by Jenny Corey-Gruenes, who enjoys teaching writing and literature in the English department at Riverland Community College.

• “There was an Old Lady who Lived in a Shoe” by Edith Haenel, a retired clinical social worker who has had a private practice in Albert Lea for nearly 30 years. She lives in Iowa with her husband and enjoys animals.

• “Stuck in the Ditch” by David Behling, the vicar of Medo Lutheran Church in Pemberton.

• “Sanctuary: A Place of Refuge or Safety” by Terry Gjersvik, who ran for District 27A representative last year.

• “Buddy, the One-Eyed Wonder” by Jim Wichmann, who grew up near Conger in rural Freeborn. After attending college in the Twin Cities, he served in the Peace Corps in southern Africa before attending graduate school in New England. He returned to Freeborn County to live in the farmhouse he grew up in after 13 years of teaching.

Music will be provided by Jeshua Erickson, who works in the IT services department at Hormel Foods on the cyber security team. He has been writing and performing music for more than 20 years.

The show will include a 10-minute intermission.

Corey-Gruenes said the stories will bring a mix of humor and more serious tones. Three of the eight accounts will be about animals, with the rest consisting of different takes on shelter. 

One story focuses on a young woman traveling in Europe, and she and her boyfriend have no place to stay. They end up getting shelter from a Frenchman.

“It’s going to be particularly entertaining,” Corey-Gruenes said.

He spoke of the importance of the show being in Albert Lea.

“We are a community with a rich tradition in the arts,” Corey-Gruenes said.