Aug. 10, 2016
CLIFFTOP, W.Va. – The 27th annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, Fayette County, wrapped up on Sunday, August 7, 2016. Twenty musicians, 11 bands and nine dancers from California to Maine took home a total of $6,975 in prize money. Five of the winners are from West Virginia.
More than 3,500 musicians, dancers, fans and friends representing all 50 states and 11 countries attended the West Virginia Division of Culture and History’s five-day event that features some of the world’s finest string band musicians and flat-foot dancers. Contests were held in four traditional categories – fiddle, banjo, string band and flat-foot dance - plus one neo-traditional string band category.
The contest winners were:
Youth Banjo
1st Place ($100) – Joey Webb, Frankfort, Ky.
Banjo
1st Place ($400) – Bob Smakula, Elkins, W.Va.
2nd Place ($200) – Ludwig Ordourke, Sweden
3rd Place ($150) – Seth Swingle, Earlysville, Va.
4th Place ($100) – Brad Kolodner, Baltimore, Md.
5th Place ($50) – Trevor Hammons, Marlinton, W.Va.
Senior Banjo
1st Place ($200) – Pete Peterson, Oxford, Pa.
2nd Place ($100) – Cathy Fink, Silver Spring, Md.
3rd Place ($50) – Hilarie Burhans, Athens, Ohio
Youth Fiddle
1st Place ($100) – Andrew Vogts, Chadds Ford, Pa.
2nd Place ($50) – Stephanie Flowers, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
3rd Place ($25) – Ruth Shumway, Charlotte, N.C.
Fiddle
1st Place ($400) – Jason Cade, Athens, Ga.
2nd Place ($200) – Clelia Stefanini, Nashville, Tenn.
3rd Place ($150) – Scott Prouty, Elkins, W.Va.
4th Place ($100) – Nikos Pappas, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
5th Place ($50) – Andrew Vogts, Chadds Ford, Pa.
Senior Fiddle
1st Place ($200) – Pete Vigour, Crozet, Va.
2nd Place ($100) – Karen Celia Heil, San Francisco, Calif.
3rd Place ($50) – Henry the Fiddler, Arvada, Colo.
Youth Neo-Traditional Band
No entrants
Neo-Traditional Band
1st Place ($700) – The Early Mays, Pittsburgh, Pa.
2nd Place ($400) – The Ladles, New York, N.Y.
3rd Place ($300) – Cameron DeWhitt & the Confirmation Bias, Philadelphia, Pa.
4th Place ($200) – The Cloud Surfers, Lancaster, Pa.
5th Place ($100) – Rumput, Richmond, Va.
Best Original Song
No monetary award – The Cloud Surfers, Lancaster, Pa.
Best Original Tune
No monetary award – The Hilltop Mountaineers, New York, N.Y.
Youth Traditional Band
1st Place ($300) – The Onlies, Seattle, Wash.
Traditional Band
1st Place ($700) – The Moose Whisperers, Oslo, Norway
2nd Place ($400) – The Wild Cats, Lexington, Va.
3rd Place ($300) – The Bucking Mules, Lawrenceburg, Tenn.
4th Place ($200) – Jenny and the Hog Drovers, Swannanoa, N.C.
5th Place ($100) – Cotton Woods, Lafayette, Calif.
Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 15 years of age and under
1st place ($75) – Luke Snuffer, Beckley, W.Va.
Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 16 years of age through 40
1st Place ($75) – Becky Hill, Elkins, W.Va.
2nd Place ($50) – Matthew Kupstas, Crofton, Md.
3rd Place ($25) – Josephine Stewart, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 41 years of age through 59
1st Place ($75) – Maureen Reed Burke, Tullahoma, Tenn.
2nd Place ($50) – Rebecca Adams, Point of Rocks, Md.
Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 60 years of age and older
1st Place ($75) – Phil Jamison, Asheville, N.C.
2nd Place ($50) – Kim Forry, Arnold, Md.
3rd Place ($25) – Jan Scopel, Arnold, Md.
Grand Champion Old-Time Flat-foot Dance Winner
($100) Phil Jamison, Asheville, N.C.
Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 16 years of age through 40
1st Place ($75) – Becky Hill, Elkins, W.Va.
2nd Place ($50) – Matthew Kupstas, Crofton, Md.
3rd Place ($25) – Josephine Stewart, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 41 years of age through 59
1st Place ($75) – Maureen Reed Burke, Tullahoma, Tenn.
2nd Place ($50) – Rebecca Adams, Point of Rocks, Md.
Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 60 years of age and older
1st Place ($75) – Phil Jamison, Asheville, N.C.
2nd Place ($50) – Kim Forry, Arnold, Md.
3rd Place ($25) – Jan Scopel, Arnold, Md.
Grand Champion Old-Time Flat-foot Dance Winner
($100) Phil Jamison, Asheville, N.C.
A fundraising effort led by Hilarie Burhans, a musician and restaurant owner from Athens, Ohio, to raise funds from musicians who attend or have attended the Appalachian String Band Festival and from non-musicians alike led to thousands of dollars collected and earmarked for victims of the recent West Virginia floods. And, once it became known that two people associated with the Clifftop festival had lost their homes as well, an additional amount of funds were raised and presented to them, much to their surprise, during the festival itself. It was a wonderful collected effort joined by many generous people from outside the Mountain State to help their West Virginia hosts and brethren in need.
For more information about the 27th annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival, contact Caryn Gresham, deputy commissioner for the division, at (304) 558-0220.
A beautiful retreat listed in the National Register of Historic Places and operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Camp Washington-Carver serves as the state’s mountain cultural arts center. The facility nurtures the cultural heritage embodied in the site since its dedication in 1942 as a 4-H and agricultural extension camp for West Virginia’s African Americans. The camp is located in Fayette County next to Babcock State Park, just off Rt. 60 (Midland Trail) on Rt. 41.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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