Fiddlers ready for weekend competition

Fiddle players from across Idaho will converge on Weiser Friday, April 8, for the two-day State Championship Fiddle Contest on stage in the auditorium of the Snake River Heritage Center. The public is invited to view the contest, with no charge for admission.

Friday evening holds the Twin Fiddling contest, beginning at 7 p.m., followed by a free hour-long bluegrass concert featuring Wilder.

Wilder’s members include bluegrass/country veterans Gary “Slim” Eller (guitar, banjo), Jay Fromlath (bass), and David Gerthung (mandolin). Wilder emphasizes the driving, hard-edged sound of pre-1970 bluegrass and pre-1970 country music. The band’s name was inspired by the town near Fromlath’s home along the Snake River in Southwest Idaho.

The trio will be joined Friday by well-known Idaho fiddler Rue Frisbee of Emmett. Years before the National Oldtime Fiddlers Contest was started in mid-April 1953, Frisbee was hearing old time fiddling being played by his father, Dave Frisbee and other top Idaho fiddlers, such as the beloved Otis Howard. 

Contesting in the NOTFC in the years around 1970, Frisbee never finished out of the top five when competing against Weiser champions, such as Byron Berline, Sammie Bush, and Loyd Wanzer. Frisbee will play a few tunes that he played in competition that are rarely, if ever, heard today.

Saturday’s contests will include two rounds of play in all certified divisions, with the second rounds narrowed to the top five in each division. Small Fry and Junior novice and intermediate division competitors will each play one round. 

Fiddlers entered in the Championship Division will take the stage at 5:30 p.m., followed by fiddle entertainment from the contest’s judges, and leading up to naming Idaho’s 2022 Champion.