Local Fiddle Contest will carry on

After 16 years of hosting the Annual Old Time Fiddle Contest, in 2012 the North Battleford Western Development Museum decided not to continue.

With a mandate to promote and preserve fiddle music and dance and, because of their on-going work within the province to keep the heritage and culture of old time fiddling alive and growing, the John Arcand Fiddle Fest agreed to run this event. An all time record of 24 competitors was achieved, which validates the importance this event is playing in the community and surrounding areas, as well as the obvious economic advantages to drawing people into the Battlefords.

Now in 2013 it will be presented again. The Western Development Museum is still the perfect location for this event, and while it is not involved with the actual contest, the John Arcand Fiddle Fest is keeping the name of the North Battleford Western Development Museum Fiddle Contest, renting its facility and looking forward to the continued interest from the surrounding rural communities from both audience and participants.

The 19th annual North Battleford Western Development Museum fiddle contest will be held Saturday, Nov. 9. Doors open at 5 p.m. Free workshops will run from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. and the contest will begin at 7 p.m. The fiddle contest will have several categories - senior, open, junior and novice. In a notable change this year, the novice category will be required to play only two tunes - a waltz and a tune of the contestant's choice. As well, due to demand, the judges will provide comments for all contestants in the junior and novice categories.

2013 has really been a great year for fiddle in this province. The Canadian Grand Masters, for the first time in a 24-year history, moved outside of Ontario and was held in Saskatoon. Not only was this well received by fiddle fans (completely selling out the venue of 751) it was also the first time in history the winner came from Saskatchewan. James Steele of Saskatoon was declared the winner and, as the platinum sponsor of this event, the John Arcand Fiddle Fest was proud to present first place to such a deserving young man.

Steele is no stranger to the contest scene in Saskatchewan and has been at the North Battleford WDM contest for many years. He is now training to become a fiddle contest judge and will be a "junior" judge at the upcoming contest.

Contest organizers sincerely hope the community at large shares their interest in seeing this solid piece of musical history preserved and carried on. The Battlefords and surrounding areas have already shown great support of this contest and organizers are hopeful that support will continue.