Monday, August 6th Let me explain about the Fiddler’s Convention venue: we are camped at the Cool Breeze Campground where Region #3 of the WBCCI hosts this rally to complement and expand the Convention format. The Convention itself takes place at the city park (with Grandstands) in downtown Galax, a few miles from our campground. Most of the Convention is evening fiddle competition and the rally fills in the gaps during the day with trips to historic locations, museums, city walks, breakfast, a women’s tea, a BBQ dinner, and other daily excursions. They also provide a long list of music performers just for us at the campground! On the agenda at 10:30 was an introduction session for the novice rally attendees; some people have been attending this Airstream Rally for 17 years! We learned the ins and outs of this fast-pace, never-a-dull-minute rally. The main question is – can we keep up?? Another question was . . . the weather. Every time we look the % chance of rain changes from bad to good and back to bad again. Time will tell! At 12:30 we left for a 3 mile caravan of shared rides to Cumberland Knob Park for a watermelon split and a history lesson by Betty Patton. Betty is a long-time airstreamer that grew up on the parkway – when they were first making the parkway! At that time it was called the “high scenic.” Her stories were tremendous and included information about the Galax tree leaves that are known for their longevity and used in flower arranging. Near the end of the session, as we were preparing to split the watermelon, thunder storms and rain popped up chasing us back to the campground. Where we had the watermelon in the comfort of the basement of our campground office building. At 2:45 we left for downtown Galax and the Rex Theater – an 80-year-old, hometown theater. Our afternoon treat was a live concert by Carson Peters and Iron Mountain. 13 year old Carson, born in Piney Flats, TN, is a seasoned performer first competing in the Old Fiddlers Convention when he was 4 years old. He was named the 2010 Tennessee State Peewee Fiddle Champion, blew away the TV show Little Big Shots, and has performed on the Grand Ole Opry. Oh my gosh – it was a great concert, in a great location, arranged just for us Airstreamers. We made a quick run back to the campground to relieve the dogs, and then headed out again for a Galax and the first evening of fiddling competition. Airstreamers had reserved parking close to the outdoor park. It was an evening of Junior competition and as we got there, youngsters 4 and above were already up performing! We could have taken chairs to sit in the dirt plaza in front of the competition stage, but we opted to sit in the stadium seating on this first night. The whole area was lined with fair-food-style vendors, and supper was BBQ pork sandwiches, a Bloomin’ Onion, and funnel cake! The first set of yearling musicians played “Old Style” fiddle, and the second set played “Bluegrass” style. I am not sure what was the difference! At this point I need to say that there is a big difference in performing music for entertainment and for competition. The ones that were “into” it the most were parents of these talented kids, and musicians that had grown up in the competition during previous years. We left, but Sue and Terry reported later that the competition progressed from the fiddles to mandolin and guitar. We sat behind Carson Peter's parents in the grandstand; it was fun to see him come running up -- just another little kid enjoying the fair atmosphere! Later on, he competed in the youth guitar competition. Long day! Lots of activity! Tomorrow will be just as busy, with an altogether different agenda! Check back!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |