Appalachian String Band Festival Announces 2015 Contest Winners

 News…

CLIFFTOP, W.Va. – The 26th annual Appalachian String Band Festival at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, Fayette County, wrapped up on Sunday, August 2, 2015. Twenty-one musicians, 12 bands and 11 dancers from California to Maryland took home a total of $7,450 in prize money. Ten of the winners were from West Virginia.

More than 4,000 musicians, dancers, fans and friends representing 44 states and 13 countries attended the West Virginia Division of Culture and History’s five-day event that features some of the nation’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) – Victor Furtado, Front Royal, Va.
            2nd Place ($50) – Trevor Hammons, Marlinton, W.Va.
            3rd Place ($25) – Joey Webb, Frankfort, Ky.

Banjo
            1st Place ($400) – Victor Furtado, Front Royal, Va.
            2nd Place ($200) – Seth Swingle, Earlysville, Va.
            3rd Place ($150) – Brad Kolodner, Baltimore, Md.
            4th Place ($100) – Hunter Walker, Beckley, W.Va.
            5th Place ($50) – Jesse Pearson, Huntington, W.Va.

Senior Banjo
            1st Place ($200) – Marvin Gaster, Sanford, N.C.
            2nd Place ($100) – Arnie Naiman, Aurora, Ontario, Canada
            3rd Place ($50) – Bertram Levy, Port Townsend, Wash.

Youth Fiddle
            1st Place ($100) – Andrew Vogts, Chadds Ford, Pa.
            2nd Place ($50) – Grayson Wickel, Asheville, N.C.
            3rd Place ($25) – Stephanie Flowers, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Fiddle
            1st Place ($400) – Jake Krack, Marlinton, W.Va.
            2nd Place ($200) – Andrew Fitzgibbon, Montrose, W.Va.
            3rd Place ($150) – Erynn Marshall, Galax, Va.
            4th Place ($100) – Grace Forrest, Big Sur, Calif.
            5th Place ($50) – Henry Barnes, Columbus, Ohio

Senior Fiddle
            1st Place ($200) – Rafaello Stefanini, Elkins Park, Pa.
            2nd Place ($100) – John Longwell, Gandeeville, W.Va.
            3rd Place ($50) – Joe Herrmann, Paw Paw, W.Va.

Youth Traditional Band
            1st Place ($300) – The Onlies, Seattle, Wash.

Traditional Band
            1st Place ($700) – Buffalo Gap, Swoope, Va.
            2nd Place ($400) – Old Drake, Galax, Va.
            3rd Place ($300) – Donkey Nation, Columbus, Ohio
            4th Place ($200) – Uncle Henry’s Favorites, Crozet, Va.
            5th Place ($100) – Bill Kimmons, St. Albans, W.Va.

Youth Neo-Traditional Band
            1st Place ($300) – The Psycho Exploding Orangutans, Chadds Ford, Pa.

Neo-Traditional Band
            1st Place ($700) – Roochie Toochie & the Ragtime Shepherd Kings, Nashville, Tenn.
            2nd Place ($400) – The Rigs, Brooklyn, N.Y.
            3rd Place ($300) – Himalayan Memo, Cincinnati, Ohio
            4th Place ($200) – Cameron DeWhitt & the Confirmation, Philadelphia, Pa.
            5th Place ($100) – Root 2 Music, Montvale, Va.

Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 15 years of age and under
            1st place ($75) – Victor Furtado, Front Royal, Va.
            2nd Place ($50) – Luke Snuffer, Beckley, W.Va.

Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 16 years of age through 40
            1st Place ($75) – Gyasi Heus, Hinton, W.Va.
            2nd Place ($50) – Kathryn Cohen, Brooklyn, N.Y.
            3rd Place ($25) – Jenn Gooch, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 41 years of age through 59
            1st Place ($75) – Suzanne Ambrose, Kendal, Cumbria, UK
            2nd Place ($50) – Thomas H. Reedy, Parkton, Md.
            3rd Place ($25) – Gene Worlledge, Mt. Lookout, W.Va.

Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 60 years of age and older
            1st Place ($75) – Rosie Davis, Palmerstown, Dublin, Ireland
            2nd Place ($50) – William McGuigan, Hellam, Pa.
            3rd Place ($25) – Jane Henderson, Bloomington, Ind.

Grand Champion Old-Time Flat-foot Dance Winner ($100) Suzanne Ambrose, Kendal, Cumbria, UK

For more information about the 26th 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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