Prepare for the Fiddle Contest in New Boston, Michigan!

It’s time for all interested fiddlers to start choosing tunes and getting them polished for the 27th Annual Michigan State Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Contest.

The contest is sponsored by the Huron Township Applefest and is just one of many activities taking place during Applefest weekend. The contest will be held Saturday, October 6, 2012 at 12:00 pm on the Applefest Stage, located at 37260 Huron River Drive, New Boston, MI 48164. Contestants register at 11:00 am and draw for positions at 11:30 am. The contest starts before the Applefest parade begins at 1:00 pm, but contestants should be aware that Huron River Drive and Waltz Road will be closed for the duration of the parade.

The contest is open to fiddlers of all ages. There is a non-refundable $10.00 entry fee. Contestants will be required to play a waltz, a schottische, a jig and a reel, all in six minutes and all in a manner suitable for Michigan old-time dancing. Contestants will be judged on timing/tempo, intonation, expression and repertoire. Complete rules can be found at http://www.huronapplefest.com/fiddlerscontest.php

Our judges this year will be:


Glen Morningstar - fiddler with the Olde Michigan Ruffwater Stringband, nationally acclaimed old-time dance instructor, author of “Great Contras and Squares from the Great Lakes State” and “Dance the Winter Away”

Judy Raber - fiddler and author of “Come Dance With Me – Original Fiddle Compositions and Favorite Tunes of Les Raber”

Brad Battey - fiddler with Dr. Grangelove, The Sharon Hollow String Band, Aunt Lu and the Oakland County All Stars, and The Olde Michigan Ruffwater String Band, co-music director for Cumberland Dance Week, board member for Michigan Dance Heritage and past-president of the Ann Arbor Council for Traditional Music and Dance

The Huron Township Applefest would like to thank our co-sponsors for making the 27th Annual Michigan State Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Contest possible:

DoSan’s
29048 Garden Blvd.
Flat Rock, MI 48134
734-782-1310

Psarianos Violins Ltd.
79 E. Maple, Troy, MI 48083
248-689-8424
157 E. Hoover, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-761-8423
http://www.psarianosviolins.com/

The Les Raber Memorial Foundation
Preserving old-time Michigan fiddling
1149 Hillview Dr., Hastings, MI 49058
www.GoldenGriffonStringtet.com/raber.htm

Elderly Instruments
1100 N. Washington
Lansing, MI 48906
888-473-5810
http://www.elderly.com/

Introducing our new blog!

Hi. We’re Jim and Loretta McKinney from New Boston, Michigan. We’re starting this blog so we can share our interest in traditional music and dance. Our focus will be mostly on Michigan, since this is where we were born, raised, where we work, and where we play.

We have an acoustic, instrumental, square dance & contra dance band -- The Golden Griffon Stringtet. Jim plays fiddle and guitar, and  Loretta plays hammered dulcimer. We also have Renzo Hutchinson on guitar and Irish flute, and Bob Ewald on upright bass.  Our son, Tommy, plays fiddle with us, too, and even some guitar.

Loretta

Jim playing at the Novi Heritage Festival.
(He was Mr. August on their calendar.)

Tommy

From left: Jim, Renzo, Bob, John Freeman
(one of the dance prompters we work with), and Loretta

We play for square dances, contra dances, weddings and wedding receptions, holiday and Christmas parties, civil war re-enactment dances, heritage festivals, living history events, community fairs, concert performances, educational programs, etc., etc., etc.

Our website is: GoldenGriffonStringtet.com

We’ll be blogging about what is on our performance schedule, as well as what we’re participating in just for fun. And, we’ll also be blogging about some events that we might not be able to attend, but that are worth mentioning.

Our instruments and music will be another topic for discussion. In fact, on Monday, November 28 at 7:00pm, we’ll be at Heinz C. Prechter Educational and Performing Arts Center, Wayne County Community College Downriver, playing some tunes and talking about our instruments and music. More info at Golden Griffon at WCCC.