{"id":10984,"date":"2019-04-12T16:35:27","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T16:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=10984"},"modified":"2019-04-12T16:35:27","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T16:35:27","slug":"fiddling-into-idaho-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/04\/12\/fiddling-into-idaho-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiddling Into Idaho History"},"content":{"rendered":"

State Fiddle Championships to be held in Hailey<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Dana DuGan<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Competitors of all ages compete in the annual
event at the Community Campus in Hailey.
Photo credit: Mikayla Shippy \/ Fiddlers, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From gypsies to cowboys, fiddling is an artform that transcends boundaries, cultures, gender and even age. And Idaho comes by its fiddling reputation from years of grassroots activity. In fact, Weiser, Idaho, is known as the fiddle capital of the world during its annual National Oldtime Fiddlers\u2019 Contest and Festival each June.<\/p>\n

Hailey has also joined the ranks as the place to be for those who play, and those who love fiddling, as the Idaho State Fiddle Championships will be held Friday and Saturday, April 12 and 13, at the Wood River High School Performing Arts Theater located at the Community Campus in Hailey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis event is a strong Idaho cultural event,\u201d said Richard Fife, the business manager of Fiddlers, Inc., which hosts the event. \u201cThe number of children who participate in this state is phenomenal. That they can come play, compete, and make friends is wonderful. They want to have fun. Our largest division is in intermediate level, youth as well as adults, who\u2019ve played for about five years. Certified winners are those who end up going to the national contest. This is one of the most fun jobs I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

The competitions will be held throughout the weekend, and there\u2019s no charge to spectate. Among those competing will be novice, intermediate and certified fiddlers, from age 5 to 95. The adult divisions will compete Friday afternoon from 3 to 6:30 p.m. The youth divisions will compete on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and the open championships will be held Saturday evening from 6:30 to 9 p.m.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the entertainment will begin at 7 p.m. featuring several youth twin fiddling duets, and performances by contest judges Tim Hodgson of the Bar J Wranglers, Kelly Buckley and Taylor Buckley of Missoula, Mont.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Idaho native and well-known musician Ernie Sites, the \u201cyodeling cowboy,\u201d will entertain Friday night as part of the opening night show. Photo credit: Ernie Sites<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sandra Cooper, executive director of the National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest, will be awarded the third annual Blaine Stubblefield Memorial Award. Stubblefield was the founder of the National Oldtime Fiddlers\u2019 Contest in Weiser.<\/p>\n

Topping off the entertainment will be a performance by \u201cthe yodeling cowboy,\u201d Ernie Sites. Raised on a ranch in Wendell, Sites is a career musician who helped found the Western Music Association, and was inducted into the Idaho Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2018. Along the trail, he has performed with Riders in the Sky, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Gene Autry, and Sons of the Pioneers, among others. He now lives in Connecticut, where he works with an educational outreach program called Young Audiences of Connecticut.<\/p>\n

The Idaho State Fiddle Championships were held for years in various locales, from Twin Falls to Shoshone, but \u201cby 2013, at the end of the contest, Shoshone couldn\u2019t continue supporting it,\u201d Fife said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked at different places we could go\u2014Hagerman, Twin, and Gooding\u2014but they didn\u2019t have suitable places,\u201d Fife said. \u201cWe met with the chambers, and mayors\u2019 offices. The attitude toward bringing it to Blaine County was absolutely positive. We made the decision to bring it up here as a trial, went to the Community Campus, and then we knew the facility was suitable. It\u2019s the best facility in the state to host the contest due to the contest requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fife added that the Blaine County community \u201creally helps with our sponsorship funding. Without that, we couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fife said the event is growing, both in reputation and in the number of competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we had 70 youth and 15 adults compete,\u201d he said. \u201cThis year we hope to have 80 youth and about 20 adults. Some of the adults we haven\u2019t seen in quite some time, and there are some new names in youth division, as well. These are new fiddlers getting their feet wet in the competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

New this year will be the inclusion of twin fiddling\u2014two people playing the same piece.<\/p>\n

Fife said that the organizers\u2014Fiddlers, Inc.\u2014want to try it out as a demonstration first. They sent invitations to each of the youth fiddling groups in the state and several organizations. \u201cIt gives us an opportunity to see what twin fiddling is all about,\u201d Fife said. \u201cWe may have to grow the competition if it\u2019s as popular as we think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fife said a main component in being able to stage the championship at the Community Campus is the rooms available backstage, for segregating judges from the competitors and in which to practice.<\/p>\n

Theater doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $15 adults (18-59); $12 seniors (60 and above); $10 veterans; $10 youth (7-17); children 6 and under are free; and the family package is $55.<\/p>\n

There is no admission charge to watch the competitions.\u00a0For more information and concert tickets, visit fiddlersofidaho.org or at the door.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Fiddle Championships to be held in Hailey By Dana DuGan From gypsies to cowboys, fiddling is an artform that transcends boundaries, cultures, gender and even age. And Idaho comes by its fiddling reputation from years of grassroots activity. In fact, Weiser, Idaho, is known as the fiddle capital of the world during its annual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,4,36,53],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calendar-2","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-slider","10":"category-calendar-feature"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}