Big Country Bluegrass helped kick off the 15th annual Alleghany County Fiddler’s Convention last Friday night at the Alleghany Fairgrounds. Below Left: Dancers with the Patrick Henry Travelers wave to the crowd during their performance last Friday night.

Fiddlers Convention attendance up

Attendance at the 15th annual Alleghany County Fiddler’s Convention was up this year, organizers said. The event is a fund-raiser for the Sparta-Alleghany Volunteer Fire Department.

Trever Nichols, one of the event’s organizers, said final figures on the amount of money raised were not available as of Tuesday, but that the number of campers was up considerably.

“We had more than 180 campers this year,” he said.

While the fire department does not keep an official head count, he said that Big Country Bluegrass’ performance and the opening of the convention were very well attended. “The stands were nearly full Friday night and we had a large number of people throughout the fairgrounds all night,” he said.

Nichols offered his thanks to the volunteers who help with the event and everyone who turned out to support it.

Winners

The following were winners at the Alleghany County Fiddlers Convention in Sparta on Friday and Saturday, July 17 and 18. A total of 41 bands and 228 individuals competed.

The convention is sponsored by the Sparta-Alleghany Volunteer Fire Department and is held the third weekend in July each year at the Higgins Agricultural Fairgrounds.

Winners are listed beginning with first place.

Old Time Band—Slate Mountain Ramblers of Ararat, Va.; Turkey Knob Boys of Independence, Va.; Local Honey of Traphill; Smokey Valley Boys of Mount Airy; and Grayson County Dare Devils of Elk Creek, Va. Bluegrass Band—Narrow Road of Mount Airy; Loose Ends of Cana, Va.; Double Overtime of Dobson; Creek Junction of Warrensville; and New Tradition of Mocksville.

Junior Band—JAM Rejects of Sparta; 1st Tyme Out of Ennice; Mountain Thunder of Max Meadows, Va.; Bethesda Bluegrass Boys of Durham; and The Lonely Rangers of Sparta.

Autoharp—Joanne Redd of Galax, Va.; Mary Umbarger of Harmony; Ros Wynne-Roberts of Hillsville, Va.; Nellie Zuhlke of Galax, Va.; and Judy Sipes of Lake Junaluska.