The Alleghany County Fiddlers Convention will be held Friday, July 2th and Saturday, July 21st at the Higgins Agricultural Fairgrounds in Sparta, North Carolina. The convention features competitions in Old-Time and Bluegrass music and has both adult and youth categories. In addition to fiddling, there are also a dance contest and other instrumental competitions. All in all, ribbons and $2,850 in cash prizes will be awarded.
A fiddlers convention is a gathering of people who like to play string music and those who like to listen or dance.
Musicians come for friendly competition, camaraderie, and to show and hone their skills. Others come to see and hear the contest, scout around the fairgrounds for hot jam sessions, kick up their heels, see their friends and neighbors, and sample the fare of a variety of vendors.
Northwest North Carolina and Southwest Virginia have been called the nation’s hotbed of string musicians. You can’t turn a corner without running into someone who plays an instrument or three or four. These are people who play for fun and not for a living. Their skills, nonetheless, are amazing.
In this contest, bands and individual musicians are scored by three judges who are musicians themselves. The contestants with the highest scores win cash prizes and ribbons.
Competitions are for bluegrass and old-time musical bands and there are 5 places. First place takes home $400 for the band. In individual categories, each individual first place winner will capture a $35 prize and a ribbon. Categories include Old time and bluegrass fiddle, old time and bluegrass banjo, guitar, bass fiddle, mandolin, dulcimer, Dobro, autoharp, vocal and harmonica.
Junior bands of musicians 16 years of age and under will compete for the $70 top prize and there will be three places of winners. In the Junior Individual musician categories, juniors can compete in the banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar and acoustic bass instrumental types.
A dance competition will take place at 5:30 PM on Saturday for Senior, Junior and Children classes. There are no cash prizes in the dance competition however, ribbons will be awarded.
Get all the information on this wonderful family entertainment in the cool Blue Ridge Mountains at http://www.alleghanyfiddlersconvention.com/ Rules and other information is also online at this web site. Come for the competition. Come for the music. Come for the entertainment. There's no reason not to come and spend a few days watching young and old enjoying the music of the region.