OSCEOLA — Sunday the Black River Valley Fiddlers Association, of the Watertown, area will play a concert of old time fiddle music for listening and dancing, from 2-5 p.m. at the North American Fiddlers’ Hall of Fame and Museum, 1121 Comins Road
The free concert is funded in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
The Black River Valley fiddlers - the largest chapter of NYSOTFA is known "for providing good music for dancing," organizers said. Its square dance callers never have to wait more than a few minutes to form two or three squares, and its fans follow the group to enjoy step dancing or dancing to country ballads and polkas at fundraisers it holds every Sunday for community groups around Watertown.
Black River’s oldest fiddler, Jim Dupre, a descendant of early French Canadian settlers of Lewis Country, is returning to his roots on Sunday to play. A member of the BRVFA since its inception in 1980, he was inducted into the Fiddlers’ Hall of Fame for NY State in 1985. He was one of NYSOTFA’S earliest volunteers and laid the concrete for the present Fiddlers’ Pavilion. He also worked many hours to help sheetrock and wire the Fiddlers’ Hall of Fame portion of the museum that now houses his picture as a an inductee.
In contrast, one of the BRVFA’s newer fiddlers, Laura Dennis, is fulfilling a childhood dream in learning to play the fiddle later in life. She enjoys playing all kinds of music and travels long distances from her home in Brantingham Lake to play with the BRVFA and other groups.
Any interested fiddlers, vocalists or backup musicians are invited to sit in at the BRVFA meetings and events. For a schedule of their activities, visit www.brvfa.com or call 408-8062.
