2023 Fiddle Meets

MEET DATES & VENUES - 12 noon - 4pm

Sunday November 5 - Capital City Grange, Montpelier
Sunday December 3 - Capital City Grange, Montpelier

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 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 Contra Dances, 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 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.

The December meet will be a traditional Holiday Party with jamming and socializing from noon to 2, and a holiday dinner catered by the Woods Lodge in Northfield served at 2. Dinner tickets are free for NEFA members who have paid dues in 2023 and for Lifetime members, but must be reserved a month in advance. (On or before our November meet.)

Tickets for guests or non members will cost $15. Reservations can be made at either the October or November meet, when you can specify if you would like a Ham, Turkey or Vegetarian dinner, or they can be made by mail.

Questions? Email Jill Newton.

WHAT IS A FIDDLE MEET?

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.