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Like all good stories, the tale of the Storytelling Guild's storage woes has a happy ending. Litter-eating dragons Rosabele, Pebbles and the familiar, handmade sights of the Children's Festival in Jacksonville have a new home, along with about 90 six-foot folding tables and 40 canopies. Six volunteers and four paid movers Saturday packed two moving vans full of the nonprofit Storytelling Guild's equipment from a Jackson County-owned storage facility in White City to a vacant warehouse at Medford Fabrication off Court Street. The Thorndike family, which owns Medford Fabrication, is leasing the facility to the Storytelling Guild for $1 a year. The family has assisted with transportation for the Children's Festival in prior years, said guild member Lara Knackstedt. The new location's closer proximity to the festival will reduce expenses. "This was kind of the perfect setup," guild President Lona Dillard said. "It's so much closer to Jacksonville." After five decades of donated storage from Jackson County courtesy of the library, thanks to the organization's donated storytimes throughout the year, the guild faced an unfeasible rate hike from the county to continue storing equipment. Several years ago, Jackson County's Facilities Maintenance Department started charging county departments for storage space. The county library had paid for the Storytelling Guild's storage until the library system was spun off from the county into a separate tax district. Beginning Oct. 31, the Storytelling Guild faced a rate of $1,500 a month or $18,000 a year. An expense would have jeopardized the low admission cost of $3 for the annual festival, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016. "That was something that could've really put us out," said Teresa Stumpenhaus, co-director of the 2016 festival. "Children's Festival is not a money-making endeavor for us. It's just enough to keep it going next year."  Stumpenhaus saw the festival's low admission price and free activities such as trolley rides as essential to the festival. "At three dollars a family, you're just wandering around and taking it all in," Stumpenhaus said. Leane Caldwell has volunteered with the organization for 16 years and oversees volunteers at the entry gate. She said mothers with children sometimes forgot to bring money, but thanks to the low admission price volunteers would spot the mothers the cash rather than send them down the hill.  "I have volunteers that'd just pay for her," Caldwell said. The scene at the new facility Saturday was upbeat. As professional movers shifted cinder blocks needed to weigh down tents, the necessary pieces were intertwined with the playful handmade pieces accumulated over the years. Tinkling bells were heard as a volunteer carefully moved a torso-sized blue and gold painted dragon. "That's the recycling baby dragon," Dillard said. In another corner, three handmade wooden horses were lined up. Elsewhere was a painted elephant. Dillard said they've been a part of the festival for years, made after the festival discontinued a petting zoo. At five decades, the festival has become a part of multiple generations of Southern Oregonians' lives. Volunteer Brian Badura, who grew up in Jacksonville, remembered the festival's first dragon, "Fred," and participating in a carpentry booth.  "My daughter went to the festival and all that," Badura said. The new space is slightly smaller, Dillard said, forcing the guild to downsize its equipment slightly. Dillard said storing the handmade items are the guild's first priority. "We kept all that stuff," Dillard said. "That's part of our history." Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected].