A true tale: The Story People of Clallam County’s annual event for skilled exaggerators and full-on whopper-tellers is coming to the Port Angeles Library this week. The 2018 Liars Contest features 10 contestants from across the Pacific Northwest vying for the top fib-telling title, beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 2, in the Raymond Carver Room at the Port Angeles Library, 2210 S. Peabody St.

Participants have up to seven minutes to lie their way to a championship in this seventh-annual Liars Contest.

“I love emceeing these shows — there’s a lot of creativity and hilarity,” said Ingrid Nixon, herself a storyteller and event host.

Among the competitors are Port Angeles Fire Chief Ken Dubuc, who took the top prize in last year’s event. Anne Rutherford, a Portland, Ore., storyteller, who was a close second, is also back, as is fellow Portland native Norm Brecke, who took third in 2017.

Dubuc won with a story about digging a hole in his backyard. Dubuc is also known for his second-prize story in 2016 — a fish tale from his vacation in Fiji. A barracuda took off his arm, and Dubuc turned things around with duct tape. Rutherford’s saga last year explored the “handwich,” a sandwich without bread, and as for Brecke, he had the audience going with a story about one of his first jobs — in which he was called upon to take an order from a dog that communicated only in barks.

Cash prizes are $100 for first place, $50 for second and $25 for third place.

A panel of judges will determine the biggest, best liar. Judges are: Akasha Atherton, a storyteller from Port Angeles; Heidi Hansen, a writer and a board member at Sequim’s Olympic Theatre Arts, and a third judge to be named later.

Atherton got involved with this crowd not so long ago when she entered the 2016 Liars Contest.

“Though I didn’t place, my positive experience encouraged me to continue attending and telling at other Story People events,” she said. Atherton has partaken in several Story Slams, themed competitions in which entrants unleash true, personal stories in 5 minutes or less. Olympic Theatre Arts partners with the Story People to host the slams every six to eight weeks.

At the Liars Contest, “people present larger and taller tales each year,” Atherton said. Often, they start out plausible. At some point, the teller takes listeners on a wild ride.

The 2017 contest drew a sellout crowd and people had to be turned away. So for this year’s event, tickets are available in advance — $10 for general admission, $5 for youths younger than 16, and $8 for Story People members — at www.ClallamStoryPeople.org. Any left by Saturday evening will be available for purchase at the door.

To find out more about the Liars Contest, the Story Slams, monthly Story Swaps and the annual Forest Storytelling Festival in Port Angeles in October, visit www.ClallamStoryPeople.org or see the Story People of Clallam County’s Facebook page.