October Storytellers: Santa Rosa Beach
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Come gather for a night of imagination, connection, and stories that will surprise, delight, and stay with you long after the lights dim.
📅 Thursday, October 15th
📍 Distillery 98, Santa Rosa Beach
⏰ Doors & Drinks at 5 PM | Stories at 6 PM
Join us at Distillery 98 this October for Storytellers Open Mic Night — an intimate evening of live storytelling. Grab a drink, settle in, and enjoy the stories to come.
October's theme: Skeletons:
The past has a strange habit of staying nearby.
Not always dramatically. Sometimes it lingers quietly — in old family myths, former identities, abandoned ambitions, outdated coping mechanisms, or stories people hoped time would soften.
Certain versions of ourselves never disappear completely. They echo through our habits, relationships, fears, humor, and the strange reflexes we can’t quite explain. A childhood role. An old mistake. A secret everyone knew without saying out loud.
This month explores the things we keep tucked away: personal history, inherited baggage, hidden chapters, and the pieces of ourselves that still rattle around long after we thought we’d outgrown them.
The stories we avoid revisiting.
The emotional residue left behind by who we used to be.
The ghosts that show up not to haunt us, but to remind us where we came from.
Because growing up rarely means leaving everything behind.
More often, it means learning how to carry it.
Want to Tell Your Story?
Our open mics are simple: sign up when you grab your ticket or find us night of and we’ll put your name in the bag. Whether it’s planned or spontaneous, your voice is welcome here. Writers, poets, songwriters, and storytellers of every kind are invited to step up to the mic. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, tall tales, truth-telling, and everything in between—if you’ve got something to share, we’d love to hear it.
October's Featured Storyteller: Steve Bornhoft has been capturing and sharing stories for generations. He edited and wrote for newspapers in Wisconsin and Illinois before migrating to Florida in 1985. As editor of the Panama City News Herald, he won national awards for projects that uncovered inmate abuse in a county jail and a cash-register justice scheme overseen by a state attorney. At Rowland Publishing in Tallahassee, he edited and wrote for magazines including Emerald Coast and numerous client publications. He holds a master’s degree in Corporate and Public Communication from Florida State University and for a combined eight years was an adjunct professor of communication at FSU and Flagler College. Earlier this year, he published Gator Hunt, a book of his poems and photos. In and around Panama City, he is a familiar speaker and has been flattered to be introduced as the “Mark Twain of Bay County.” He fishes, runs and works as the vice president of marketing and communication at TechFarms, a business developer in Panama City Beach.
📅 Thursday, October 15th
📍 Distillery 98, Santa Rosa Beach
⏰ Doors & Drinks at 5 PM | Stories at 6 PM
Join us at Distillery 98 this October for Storytellers Open Mic Night — an intimate evening of live storytelling. Grab a drink, settle in, and enjoy the stories to come.
October's theme: Skeletons:
The past has a strange habit of staying nearby.
Not always dramatically. Sometimes it lingers quietly — in old family myths, former identities, abandoned ambitions, outdated coping mechanisms, or stories people hoped time would soften.
Certain versions of ourselves never disappear completely. They echo through our habits, relationships, fears, humor, and the strange reflexes we can’t quite explain. A childhood role. An old mistake. A secret everyone knew without saying out loud.
This month explores the things we keep tucked away: personal history, inherited baggage, hidden chapters, and the pieces of ourselves that still rattle around long after we thought we’d outgrown them.
The stories we avoid revisiting.
The emotional residue left behind by who we used to be.
The ghosts that show up not to haunt us, but to remind us where we came from.
Because growing up rarely means leaving everything behind.
More often, it means learning how to carry it.
Want to Tell Your Story?
Our open mics are simple: sign up when you grab your ticket or find us night of and we’ll put your name in the bag. Whether it’s planned or spontaneous, your voice is welcome here. Writers, poets, songwriters, and storytellers of every kind are invited to step up to the mic. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, tall tales, truth-telling, and everything in between—if you’ve got something to share, we’d love to hear it.
October's Featured Storyteller: Steve Bornhoft has been capturing and sharing stories for generations. He edited and wrote for newspapers in Wisconsin and Illinois before migrating to Florida in 1985. As editor of the Panama City News Herald, he won national awards for projects that uncovered inmate abuse in a county jail and a cash-register justice scheme overseen by a state attorney. At Rowland Publishing in Tallahassee, he edited and wrote for magazines including Emerald Coast and numerous client publications. He holds a master’s degree in Corporate and Public Communication from Florida State University and for a combined eight years was an adjunct professor of communication at FSU and Flagler College. Earlier this year, he published Gator Hunt, a book of his poems and photos. In and around Panama City, he is a familiar speaker and has been flattered to be introduced as the “Mark Twain of Bay County.” He fishes, runs and works as the vice president of marketing and communication at TechFarms, a business developer in Panama City Beach.
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Where is it happening?
Distillery 98, 835 Serenoa Rd, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459, USA, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherEmerald Coast Storytellers
