Apalachin storyteller Gregorio Pedroza will be presenting one of the 41 workshops scheduled during the National Storytelling Network Conference in Oklahoma City July 13 through 17. The title of Pedroza's workshop is "The Cultures and Traditions of Mexican-American Barrio."
 Pedroza, who has lived in Apalachin for 35 years, grew up in a barrio in Texas with an extended family that spoke mostly Spanish. He came to the Southern Tier when he accepted a job with IBM Endicott. After he retired from IBM, where he often gave technical and motivational speeches, Pedroza decided to concentrate on storytelling.
 Today, Pedroza performs nationwide, averaging more than 125 venues a year. This is the first time that he has been asked to perform at the national conference.
 In the past eight years, Pedroza has produced five CDs and three books. A fourth book is ready for publication.   All the profits are put into a fund and for the last four years Pedroza has  been able to give modest scholarships to deserving students in Texas. His  goal is to give more and bigger scholarships from the proceeds now that he have organized as a non-profit organization called Firekeeper Fund, Inc.