The 33rd Annual Lyons Fiddle Festival opened with a gospel service and as rain poured down on the crowd, Crow Hill performed on a covered stage on Sept. 18.
Umbrellas and pop-up tents formed a canopy of protection against the rain for fans of the Fiddle Festival held in Lyons Park.
Prior to the festival, with dire predictions of rain, Clark Frederick, husband of Chairperson Sandy Frederick, and Jamie McCracken, Full Circle Music Society, brainstormed a solution for the stage. They made one trip to the hardware store, and five hours later, there was a grand canopy over the stage.
McCracken said he felt tired and proud when they finished, but felt they did a pretty good job. He said a few modifications next year will make it a little easier to put it up and take it down.
“It looks a little Appalachian, which is appropriate,” said McCracken.
The day began with a Gospel Service by Rev. Elizabeth A. Haines of Hope Lutheran Church, Bowers. Last year, the church raised $440 to help World Hunger through soup sales at the festival.
The wet weather didn’t last long and cleared before the official opening ceremony.
“The rain is over,” said Keith Brintzenhoff, MC. “I will repeat, ‘The rain is over!'”
Brintzenhoff said this year’s performers came from both local as well as from far away.
“Crow Hill is a fast up and coming blue grass group from Berks County,” said Brintzenhoff. “We have a variety of groups from a variety of places and individual performers between the different age groups for the fiddle contests.”
While on vacation, Larry Ross, stage manager, made the arrangement for Stevie Barr Trio to come up from Virginia and play for the festival.
“My wife and I traveled The Crooked Road and one of the stops is the Barr’s Fiddle Shop,” said Ross who connected with Stevie Barr via the shop.
The raindrops that glistened on chairs went unnoticed by Annette Bechtel, East Greenville, and her companions, Sarah and Paul Forsythe, Harleysville, and Harley Dietrich, Red Hill. Paul said they don’t like the rain, but what are you going to do?
“We wanted to come here and listen to Crow Hill and Remington Ryde,” Dietrich said.
“Just being outside, being with friends and good music,” Bechtel added.
Margaret Young, 15, Topton, enjoys playing the fiddle. “A bluegrass or Celtic piece I can look at the music and play it however I want.”
Jane Lichtenwalner, Emmaus, said, “We came for the music and the people. It’s God’s country up here.”
Her husband, Leon said it’s countrified here and that’s why he wore his straw hat. It was the last hat from his father’s farm since before 1993.
The Brandywine Heights volleyball team volunteered to help serve food throughout the day. Full of energy, they greeted people with smiles.
“We love meeting the people here because everybody is so nice to us and it’s a community event,” Ashlee Ludwig, 16, said.
Paige Fenstermacher, 17, said they tried almost all of the different foods like potatoes, sausage stew, chicken corn noodle and just all of the soups, oh, and pumpkin pie being her favorite.
“Come support us. We like community events. We like to make sure that community is involved in everything,” said Fenstermacher.
The success of the Fiddle Fest is owed to all the volunteers who helped to make it possible. The Late Suzie Reed realized the importance of how much the festival meant to the community the year that the festival was no longer and people still came out to play and enjoy music. Reed reconnected with volunteers and brought back the music to Lyons Park.
In honor of Suzie Reed’s most precious gift of time, each year the Fiddle Fest committee presents a volunteer of the year award. This year’s award went to Keith Weidner, a lifetime resident of Lyons who has given much of his time through the years to the Lyons Fiddle Festival.
Weidner published the newspaper, The Lyons Roar, for many years. He continues to photograph all the community events including Santa Claus, Easter Rabbit, and Halloween Parade, which are all made possible with proceeds from the Lyons Fiddle Festival. He also manages the Lyons Park and Recreation Board website and has been the driving force behind the Race Fest in town as well as the Lyons Fiddle Festival. Weidner worked behind the stage photographing and recording the sounds of the Fiddle Fest for years and was responsible for connecting the Fiddle Fest with Dave Kline and Uncle Jeffrey for which the committee is ever grateful.
Weidner said he really appreciated it and wished everyone all the luck.
The opening ceremonies continued with the Honor Guard of Ray A. Master Topton Legion Post 217 and then on to the fiddle contest.
Brintzenhoff said they had a few new things this year, like the wooden platforms set up for anyone who wanted to get up if their spirit moved them to do some jigging or clogging or flatfooting or step dancing. Also there was blind judging meaning the judges didn’t know who was playing or anything else about the contestants.
The 2016 Lyons Fiddle Festival Grand Champion is Andrew Vogts.
Winners in the 12 and under age group are First Place Sophia DeLong, Sinking Spring; Second Place Kyle Trbuza, Bethlehem; and Third Place Maisy Funk, Barto.
Winners in the 13 to 19 age group are First Place Andrew Vogts, Chadds Ford; Second Place Angelina Phillips, Exton; and Third Place Margaret Young, Alburtis.
Winners in the 18 and over age group are First Place Emily Martin Roeder, Lebanon; Second Place Melissa Martin, Newmanstown; and Third Place Judy Terwilliger, New Tripoli.
Winner of the first guitar raffle featuring a Martin 000-15M for 2016 is Jay Thompson, Fleetwood.
Winner of the annual Quilt raffle for 2016 is Ron Kieffer, Hamburg.
For more information about the Lyons Fiddle Festival, go to www.lyonsfiddle.com.
