July 7, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
The Grand Champion Fiddler of the 47th annual Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival will be crowned tonight.
The Saturday program starts at 9 a.m. with the finals in the Junior Clogging and Senior Buck Dancing events.
(VIEW VIDEO OF FRIDAY NIGHT’S WINNER OF THE OLD TIME FIDDLE BAND COMPETITION-THE SLIM CHANCE BAND OF SMYRNA)
Preliminaries will then be held in the following categories:
Junior Old Time Appalachian Flatfoot dance (ages up to 39); Senior Old Time Appalachian Flatfoot dance ( ages 40 and over); Senior Buckdancing (ages 40 and over); Senior Clogging (ages 40 and over); Bluegrass Banjo; Junior Fiddlers (ages 13-39); Flat Top Guitar; Contest Fiddle for the Neil Dudney Award; Bluegrass Band; Senior Fiddlers (ages 40 and over); and Square Dancing (4 Couples-8 Total Dancers).
(VIEW VIDEO OF FRIDAY NIGHT’S WINNER OF THE GOSPEL SINGING COMPETITION AMONG DUOS, TRIOS AND QUARTETS- HARVEY BROWN SMITH OF BEECHGROVE)
Preliminaries will be held in each event and then the top three finalists will be called back tonight to compete for first, second, and third place.
Two long rain delays forced organizers of the Jamboree to alter the Friday schedule, moving the traditional opening ceremony at 6 p.m. to this afternoon at 4 p.m. A United States flag and a Tennessee State flag will be presented during the program. The flags, which have flown over the state capitol, go to the persons who travel the greatest distances, both from inside and outside the country, to get here. The flags will be presented by State Senator Mark Pody and State Representatives Terri Lynn Weaver and Clark Boyd.
The Smithville Community Chorus will also perform a variety of patriotic songs.
Fiddler’s Jamboree Craft Awards will be presented today for “Best of Show”, “Best Appalachian Craft”, “Best Newcomer”, and “Best Craft Display”
Award-winning fiddle player Michael Cleveland has been named the 2018 Blue Blaze Award Winner for the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree & Crafts Festival and he will be accepting the award on this evening at 5pm followed by a mini-concert by Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper.
The winners of the Junior and Senior Fiddling competition will square off for the Grand Champion Award, the Berry C. Williams Memorial Trophy at the conclusion of the festival.
Meanwhile, the National Championship for Country Musician Beginners will be held this afternoon during the Jamboree featuring competitions for children, up to age twelve, in the categories of Buck Dancing, Clogging, Dobro Guitar, Mandolin, Five String Banjo, Flat Top Guitar, and Fiddle.
Preliminaries will be held in each event and then the top three finalists will be brought back to compete for first, second, and third place.
One child will receive the Best Overall Instrumental Entertainer Trophy Award and the top fiddler will get the James G. “Bobo” Driver Memorial Trophy.
The youth square dancing preliminaries, which began Friday before the second round of rain, will be completed on today prior to the National Championship for Country Musician Beginners. The finals for youth square dancing will follow the beginners’ competition.
In addition to the on-stage musical entertainment, the Fiddlers Jamboree will feature many crafts, plenty of delicious food; and lots of shade tree picking around the public square.
WJLE will broadcast most of the on-stage entertainment LIVE on AM 1480/ FM 101.7 and LIVE Streaming at www.wjle.com.
For more information on the festival, go to www.fiddlersjamboree.com.