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CLIFFTOP, W.Va. – The 30th annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, Fayette County, wrapped up on Sunday, Aug. 4, 2019. Twenty musicians, 12 bands and 12 dancers from California to Maine took home a total of $7,550 in prize money. Two of the winners are from West Virginia, including Bob Smakula, Elkins, Randolph County, third place senior banjo and third place senior fiddle; and The Geezer Hillbillies, Charleston, Kanawha County, fifth place Neo-Traditional Band and best new composition song.
More than 3,000 musicians, dancers, fans and friends representing all 50 states and 10 countries attended the West Virginia Department of Arts, 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) – Nora Brown, Brooklyn, N.Y.
2nd Place: ($50) – Tessa Taylor, Buffalo, Wyo.
3rd Place: ($25) – Joey Webb, N/A
Banjo
1st Place: ($400) – Jake Blount, Washington, D.C.
2nd Place: ($200) – Walt Koken, Avondale, Pa.
3rd Place: ($150) – Seth Swingle, Earlysville, Va.
4th Place: ($100) – Mac Traynham, Willis, Va.
5th Place: ($50) – Victor Furtado, N/A
Senior Banjo
1st Place: ($200) – Walt Koken, Avondale, Pa.
2nd Place: ($100) – Mac Traynham, Willis Va.
3rd Place: ($50) – Bob Smakula, Elkins, W.Va.
Youth Fiddle
1st Place: ($100) – Huck Tritsch, Milliheim, Pa.
2nd Place: ($50) – Gus Tritsch, Milliheim, Pa.
3rd Place: ($25) – Lillian Chasde, N/A
Fiddle
1st Place: ($400) – Nokosee Fields, Stillwater, Okla.
2nd Place: ($200) – Joseph Decosimo, Durham, N.C.
3rd Place: ($150) – A.J. Srubas, Minneapolis, Minn.
4th Place: ($100) – Austin Derryberry, Unionville, Tenn.
5th Place: ($50) – John Lane, Smithfield, Ill.
Senior Fiddle
1st Place: ($200) – Walt Koken, Avondale, Pa.
2nd Place: ($100) – Harry Liedstrand, Layfayette, Calif.
3rd Place: ($50) – Bob Smakula, Elkins, W.Va.
Youth Neo-Traditional Band
1st Place: ($300) – Ithassippi String Band, Ithaca, N.Y.
Neo-Traditional Band
1st Place: ($700) – Ken and Brad Kolodner Quartet, Baltimore, Md.
2nd Place: ($400) – The Wicked Children, Milliheim, Pa.
3rd Place: ($300) – Jackson and Company, Brooklyn, N.Y.
4th Place: ($200) – Sierra Ferrell, Nashville, Tenn.
5th Place: ($100) – The Geezer Hillbillies, Charleston, W.Va.
Best New Composition Song
No monetary award – The Geezer Hillbillies, Charleston, W.Va.
Best New Composition Tune
No monetary award – The Wicked Children, Milliheim, Pa.
Youth Traditional Band
1st Place: ($300) – The Rattlesnake Roasters, Frederick, Md.
Traditional Band
1st Place: ($700) – The Ruglifters, Asheville, N.C.
2nd Place: ($400) – The Mother Cluckers, Ravenna, Ohio
3rd Place: ($300) – Old Drake, Galax, Va.
4th Place: ($200) – The Fullsenders, Asheville, N.C.
5th Place: ($100) – The Wildmen’s, Floyd, Va.
Old-Time Flat-Foot Dance – 15 years of age and younger
1st Place: ($75) – Ola Moeckel, Floyd, Va.
2nd Place: ($50) – William Moeckel, Floyd, Va.
3rd Place: ($25) – Nora Sheperd, Boone, N.C.
Old-Time Flat-Foot Dance – 16 years of age through 40
1st Place: ($75) – Matthew Kupstas, Hickory, N.C.
2nd Place: ($50) – Julie Sheperd Powell, Boone, N.C.
3rd Place: ($25) – Hannah Lewis, Detroit, Mich.
Old-Time Flat-Foot Dance – 41 years of age through 59
1st Place: ($75) – Kathy Grabarczyk, Brooklyn, N.Y.
2nd Place: ($50) – Jenn Gooch, Pittsburgh, Pa.
3rd Place: ($25) – Linda Block, Leicester, N.C.
Old-Time Flat-Foot Dance – 60 years of age and older
1st Place: ($75) – Ruth Alpert, Santa Barbara, Calif.
2nd Place: ($50) – Gordy Hinner, Banner Elk, N.C.
3rd Place: ($25) – Rodney Sutton, Marshall, N.C.
Grand Champion Old-Time Flat-Foot Dance Winner
($100) – Ruth Alpert, Santa Barbara, Calif.
For more information about the 30th annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival, contact Bethany Cline, director of communications for the department, at (304) 558-0220.
A beautiful retreat listed in the National Register of Historic Places and operated by the West Virginia Department of Arts, 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.
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