Glacier Fiddle Festival is a fun family affair
Leah Farnes grew up playing in fiddle contests, a junior fiddle group and meeting other kids who played fiddle from around Montana and other states, many of whom she’s still friends with today.
Farnes started the nonprofit Glacier Fiddle Festival 12 years ago here in the Flathead Valley. Raised in the Flathead, she has been president of District 1 of the Montana Old Time Fiddlers Association for the last three years.
“Fiddling around Montana has slowly started to decline since I was a kid,” Farnes said.
Together with her fiddle family, Farnes says she organized the Glacier Fiddle Festival because she wanted her students to experience that sense of community and to do her part to preserve traditional American music.
“Some of the songs date back to the 1700s and 1800s,” Farnes said. “If we don’t teach them, they’re just tunes that get lost.”
Farnes, who started playing fiddle at age 10, has been teaching private weekly fiddle lessons for more than 20 years.
For fiddlers, the Glacier Fiddle Festival is an important and exciting part of their year. Like most fiddle contests, the Glacier Fiddle Festival has contestants from age 4 to over 80. Anywhere from 25 to 40 fiddlers come to compete from Washington, Idaho, Oregon and across Montana. This year’s contest will be judged by Tobi Magruder from Great Falls and Lisa Barrett from Livingston. Both women have been fiddle teachers in the state for years and have had a big impact in fiddling, Farnes said.
Barrett, together with her late husband Dick Barrett, are big names in the fiddle community.
“They have taught so many people, fiddlers who are out performing, gigging and teaching now,” Farnes said. “I met some fiddlers from Nashville last summer and they knew who they were.”
Magruder, who is a former student of Lisa's, is in the Fiddlers Hall of Fame.
Contestants compete for prize money and trophies, as well as a youngest and oldest fiddler award.
Farnes likes to keep the Glacier Fiddle Festival’s atmosphere laid back. Spectators are welcome and the festival usually draws 50 to 100 over the two days. She says the Friday evening jam is super-relaxed.
“Everyone just sits in a big circle, plays together, visits and has fun before the competition starts,” she said. “I want to keep that kind of old-timey feeling.”
For the contest itself, contestants play three songs every time they’re on stage — a hoedown, a waltz, and a tune of choice. No sheet music is allowed on stage and the contestants are judged on timing, danceability and technique.
The Montana State Old Time Fiddlers Association, along with District 1 Old Time Fiddlers, have helped to sponsor the annual contest along with local businesses in the valley. Founded in 1963, the Montana State Old Time Fiddlers Association hosts its annual Montana Fiddle Camp in June, and the Montana State Fiddle Contest takes place every summer in a different Montana town.
Admission is free to the Glacier Fiddle Festival and the public is welcome to watch and enjoy the contest. There will also be a raffle with items from many local businesses who donated, and a bake sale to help fund next year’s contest. Go to the website, glacier fiddle festival.blogspot.com, to see a list of businesses who donated raffle items.
“I wouldn't be able to run this contest without all of my wonderful volunteers,” Farnes said. “They run registration, score keep, emcee, run the raffle, bake sale, get donations and help sell T-shirts and stickers.”
BREAKOUT BOX
The 12th Annual Glacier Fiddle Festival will be held Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9, at the Cornerstone Community Church, 1970 U.S. 93 in Kalispell (across from the Blue Cow Carwash). Jam and registration will be Friday, April 8, starting at 6 p.m. The contest will take place from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 9.
Admission for the public is free.
