Aug. 14, 2012
CLIFFTOP, W.Va. – Twenty-one musicians, 12 bands and 12 dancers from California to Rhode Island took home a total of $7,450 in prize money during the 23rd annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, Fayette County, in early August.
Four of the winners were from West Virginia.
More than 4,000 people attended the West Virginia Division of Culture and History’s five-day event that features some of the nation’s finest string band musicians and flatfoot dancers. Participants and visitors included folks from 45 states as well as international visitors from Australia, Canada, England, France, Japan, Norway and Scotland, among others.
Contests were held in four traditional contests – fiddle, banjo, string band and flatfoot dance – plus one neo-traditional string band contest. Ribbons for best original song and best original tune were awarded in the neo-traditional band category.
Next year’s festival will be held July 31 - Aug. 4, 2013.
The contest winners are:
Banjo
1st place ($400) - Mac Traynham, Willis, Va.
2nd place ($200) - Mike Kropp, Wyoming, R.I.
3rd place ($150) - Joseph DeCosimo, Jonesborough, Tenn.
4th place ($100) - Luke Richardson, Lawrenceburg, Tenn.
5th place ($50) - Lynn “Chirps” Smith, Whitewater, Wis.
Youth Banjo - 15 years of age and under
1st place ($100) - Victor Furtado, Front Royal, Va.
2nd place ($50) - Lulu Furtado, Front Royal, Va.
3rd place ($25) - John Vance, Jr., Chapel Hill, N.C.
Senior Banjo - 60 years of age and over
1st place ($200) - Mike Kropp, Wyoming, R.I.
2nd place ($100) - Carl Baron, Ambler, Pa.
3rd place ($50) - Bertram Levy, Port Townsend, Wash.
Fiddle
1st place ($400) - Emily Schaad, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
2nd place ($200) - Stephanie Coleman, Brooklyn, N.Y.
3rd place ($150) - Jake Krack, Marlinton, W.Va.
4th place ($100) - Grace Forrest, Big Sur, Calif.
5th place ($50) - John Engle, Asheville, N.C.
Youth Fiddle - 15 years of age and under
1st place ($100) - Nina DeVitry, Columbia, Pa.
2nd place ($50) -Andrew Vogts, Chadds Ford, Pa.
3rd place ($25) - Kitty Amaral, Elk Creek, Va.
Senior Fiddle - 60 years of age and over
1st place ($200) - Paul Brown, Winston-Salem, N.C.
2nd place ($100) - Henry T. Fiddler, Arvada, Colo.
3rd place ($50) - Jim Childress, Free Union, Va.
Neo-Traditional Band
1st place ($700) - Drunken Catfish Ramblers, Fayetteville, Ark.
2nd place ($400) - Critton Hallow, Paw Paw, W.Va.
3rd place ($300) - The Olds 78s and the Retro Ramblers, Kingston, Ark.
4th place ($200) - Westbound Rangers, Nashville, Tenn.
5th place ($100) - Jubal’s Kin, Longwood, Fla.
Youth Neo-Traditional Band
($300) - Davy Jones’ Evidence Locker, Elkins, W.Va.
Best Original Song (ribbon and certificate awards)
Westbound Rangers, Nashville, Tenn.
Best Original Tune (ribbon and certificate awards)
Jubal’s Kin, Longwood, Fla.
Traditional Band
1st place ($700) - The Bucking Mules, Jonesborough, Tenn.
2nd place ($400) - Nervous Tick and the Bites, Galax, Va.
3rd place ($300) - The Cork Burners, Eunice, La.
4th place ($200) - White Mule, Bloomington, Ind.
5th place ($100) - Sweet T and the Twisted Lemons, Vinton, Va.
Youth Traditional Band
($300) - Lyin’ Lizzy and the Psycho Exploding Orangutans, Front Royal, Va.
Old-Time FlatFoot Dance - 15 years of age and under
1st place ($75) - Rebecca Molaro, Asheville, N.C.
2nd place ($50) - Jeffrey Amundsen, Longwood, Fla.
3rd place ($25) - Mattie Amundsen, Longwood, Fla.
Old-Time FlatFoot Dance - 16 years of age through 40
1st place ($75) - Sarah Josephine Stewart, Charlottesville, Va.
2nd place ($50) - Clay Sutton, Marshall, N.C.
3rd place ($25) - Elizabeth Laprell, Rural Retreat, Va.
Old-Time FlatFoot Dance - 41 years of age through 59
1st place ($75) - Jay Bland, Kennesaw, Ga.
2nd place ($50) - Gordon Hinners, Weaverville, N.C.
3rd place ($25) - Abby Laiden, Bloomington, Ind.
Old-Time FlatFoot Dance - 60 years of age and older
1st place ($75) - Rodney Sutton, Marshall, N.C.
2nd place ($50) - Marilyn Branch, Kalamazoo, Mich.
3rd place ($25) - Maureen Busch-Terman, Morgantown, W.Va.
For more information about the 23rd Annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival, contact Caryn Gresham, deputy commissioner for the Division, at (304) 558-0220.
A beautiful retreat listed in the National Register of Historic Places and operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Camp Washington-Carver serves as the state’s mountain cultural arts center. The facility nurtures the cultural heritage embodied in the site since its dedication in 1942 as a 4-H and agricultural extension camp for West Virginia’s African Americans. The camp is located in Fayette County next to Babcock State Park, just off Rt. 60 (Midland Trail) on Rt. 41.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The Division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the Division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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