Preserving and Promoting Old-Time Fiddling in Northern New England
Preserving and Promoting Old-Time Fiddling in Northern New England
The NEFA Trustees are happy to announce that after two years of 'outside only' meets, we have scheduled a full year of Meets for 2023. Many of us have enjoyed our tradition of moving from town to town with our Meets, but at least for this year we have settled on the Capital City Grange in Montpelier (except for March, at the Montpelier VFW, and May, at the Granite Museum) for our indoor Meets. The Grange has an excellent air filtering system and has been very welcoming to us.
The Capital City Grange hosts the popular Montpelier Contradances, and the Vermont Fiddle Orchestra meets there for their weekly rehearsals. Get off I-89 at Exit 8, follow Rt 2 to the intersection of Rt 2 and Rt 12. Turn right on to Rt 12 South, and drive almost exactly one mile. The Grange is on the left and has a good sign. Click here for a Google map.
If severe winter weather makes it necessary to cancel a Meet, it will be posted on the website and FaceBook page, and we will try to call everyone on the mailing list.
Questions? Email Jill Newton.
A NEFA meet always begins at noon with a Tune Circle. As fiddlers arrive they sign up on a numbered list and then, if they wish, join the circle which lasts until 1 o’clock. In the circle, people take turns in choosing the tunes to be played. At 1 o’clock our master of ceremonies, Tom Berry, takes the list up onto the stage and starts calling fiddlers up to each play 3 tunes of their choice. The majority of NEFA members are not actually fiddlers but other musicians, (guitar, piano, banjo, mandolin), dancers, and folks who come to the meets to listen and enjoy a very sociable afternoon. There is always a concession stand where hot dogs, burgers, fries, and sometimes soup or chili are served, and a sales table where donated baked goods and crafts are sold to benefit NEFA. The meet lasts until the last fiddler has played, and concludes with a group of fiddlers up on the stage playing a few farewell tunes together.
Copyright © 2022 Northeast Fiddlers Association., Inc. - All Rights Reserved.
Northeast Fiddlers Association, Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation.
Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law. Tax ID# 03-6012241
Powered by GoDaddy Website Builder