In some ways, the annual Immigrant Voices event is simple: a dark theater, a lone microphone and a bright spotlight.
But it’s also a powerful survey of threads from the lives of people in the Roaring Fork Valley.
A preschool teacher recalled receiving a kidney — and a new lease on life — from her cousin.
A man who has lived all over the world talked about translating for a mother in the produce section of his local supermarket.
Storyteller Karl is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. They told a story of self-discovery and validation after moving to Colorado from Bali, Indonesia.
“When I saw that X on my driver’s license, it was better than my degree to be honest,” Karl said. They asked to be referred to only by their first name. “It was a piece of paper to look at me and say, ‘We see you, Karl. You are real.’”
“When I look at myself now in the mirror, I see somebody who is free,” they told the sold-out crowd assembled at The Arts Campus at Willits in early March.
“I’m still learning how to drive in the snow,” they said. “I'm still very freezing in Colorado, but for the first time in my life, I am happy. I feel like I can do whatever I want, and what I want is just simple. I just want to be exactly who I am.”
Karl’s newfound freedom comes in part from their ability to receive hormone therapy in the Roaring Fork Valley.
“Back in my home country, it's illegal to do that,” Karl said after the show. Receiving gender-affirming care has made them a refugee.
But they said it’s worth it. Karl said they hope people who hear about their life can feel permission to live authentically.
“I want people to be the best of their self like me,” they said. “I'm trying to find myself here, and this is my place.”
The Immigrant Voices storytelling event is organized by the nonprofit English in Action. Its main mission is English education, but nine years ago, it launched the annual event.
English in Action Executive Director Lara Beaulieu said the nonprofit didn’t realize it would become such a community staple, but she gets the appeal.
“I think we have limited opportunities to connect with other people and to hear about their lives, and the stories that people share are — they're real stories,” Beaulieu said. “They're from their lives, and that's precious.”
Beaulieu said it gives people a chance to see unique facets of life and the diversity of the immigrant community in the Roaring Fork Valley.
“I think people are often surprised, because they imagine that these will be stories of hardship, and some of them are, but a lot of them aren't,” she said. “They are about ordinary people living full lives, overcoming challenges.”
Storyteller Samuel Bernal is an iconic voice on 107.1 Radio La Tricolor — the valley’s Spanish-language radio station.
Originally from Mexico City, Bernal said, in his eyes, the main job in radio isn’t the talking.
“The main job is to listen,” he said. “It’s to listen to the people’s dreams, questions, fears, ... I am blessed to be the ear and sometimes the voice of many immigrants that carry stories too heavy to carry alone.”
Bernal had been on the Immigrant Voices stage twice before. But this year, he felt compelled to tell a story — not of his own life — but of someone who doesn’t speak English, who doesn’t have a microphone or a stage.
He spoke as an unnamed mother from the Roaring Fork Valley, who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and kept in inhumane conditions, nearly suffering a miscarriage.
Bernal said increased immigration enforcement in the region has put people on edge. He invited the mother in his story to the event, but says she was too afraid to come. He said that emphasized why sharing her story was important.
“It's important that we are conscious about what is happening and that we do something about it,” he said.
He added that he hopes community members will step up and do what they can to support immigrants — even if it’s just sharing the stories of their neighbors.
“There are people who want us to be quiet and fearful,” Bernal said. “We have to be brave and to believe in our actions.”
Event organizers said they are conscious of the trauma experienced by immigrants across the U.S. and across the world.
But they felt the best response was to host the same storytelling event they have organized for almost a decade.
Beaulieu said it gives people the chance to see each other as individuals with full and rich lives — shared in their own words.
This year, the stories were facets of the same message: we all need community, to be seen and to lift each other up.
“Stories don't change the world overnight, but they change the way we see each other, and when we can see each other clearly, then change becomes possible,” Bernal ended his time on stage. “Thank you for listening.”
Listen to the 2026 Immigrant Voices storytelling event here.
