History of the Maritime Fiddle Festival
Money was needed to build a church…
It was early 1950. A group of men had gathered in Ed Greenough’s
kitchen to discuss fundraising for their new church building, a
temporary structure which would serve the growing community of what
would later become East Dartmouth. In addition to Ed Greenough, the
group included Father Ernest Sweeney, Charlie Lethbridge, Don Currie,
Jack Brenton, John MacCormick, and George Meisner.
At the time,
the parish group was served by a mission of St. Peter’s Church.
This group would be the start of the community’s true dream
– their own independent parish - St. Thomas More. So, the usual
ideas were tossed around: bingo, a variety show, a minstrel show. But
someone had an inspired suggestion and there was no need for further
discussion.
Why don't we hold an old time fiddling contest?
Old-time, or country fiddling, was the principal folk-music activity in
Canada dating back to the earliest European settlers; there was even a
distinctive Maritime tradition coming from the ancient lyrical Acadian
style and from the Scottish style of Cape Breton Island where the
fiddlers employed embellishments to mimic bagpipes. Nova Scotia was,
and still is, a province of fiddlers, many playing home made
instruments. Yet by 1950, this indigenous musical heritage was
threatened. The effect of television which had lately come on the
entertainment scene was moving rock and roll and other styles of music
to the forefront in Nova Scotia and around the world. While new styles
of music had always been embraced in Nova Scotia, many worried that
old-time fiddling, and important provincial heritage tradition, was in
danger of becoming a footnote in history.
So it was that the community felt they could not only build a parish,
but they could also ensure the survival of one of Nova Scotia’s
most recognizable styles of music. As Father Ernest Sweeney put it at
the time, here was an opportunity to cash in on a latent feeling for
the home-made Nova Scotian music, while at the same time doing
something to reawaken interest in an important part of our cultural
heritage.
Arrangements would not be easy. In the 1940s and 50s, fiddling contests
were local country events tied to an earlier generation. Events in the
country were an outgrowth of country kitchen parties that were far less
common in the city. How many fiddlers would be willing to travel from
country to city to display their talents in an unfamiliar environment,
perhaps before an unappreciative audience, with only the possibility of
a trophy at the end of the night in return? Ed Greenough and Father
Sweeney, both of whom grew up with fiddling, called in all their old
debts. The result was an assembly of ten fiddlers and about an equal
number of step dancers who promised to participate in the first contest.
A Modest Start
The first Old-Time Fiddling and Step Dancing
Contest took place in the spring of 1950. It was staged in the
unfinished church building. There was a respectable attendance and the
event was sufficiently successful that a second contest was organized
not long after. But there was certainly no indication that first time
that anything exceptional had taken place. The men of St. Thomas More
did not know what they had started.
A Traffic Jam, and Things Get Busy
What everyone seems to remember about the second contest was the
traffic jam. The contest organizers weren’t prepared for the
crowds that had heard about the first event and showed up to the
second. To accommodate as many people as possible, the windows of the
hall were opened so that the overflowing crowd outside would still hear
the music.
By the time the third contest was held, it had been moved to the
Dartmouth Memorial Rink. Attendance was now in the thousands. A
parishioner who had acted as master of ceremonies on the first two
occasions couldn’t believe the impressive attendance. He
contracted stage fright at the last minute and had to be replaced by
Father Sweeney.
The Dartmouth Memorial Rink remained the contest site for years to
come. It was a gathering place for three to four thousand fans who
gathered annually to participate and listen to old time fiddling
competitions and watch step dancers cross the stage with skill and
grace. An old wooden structure redolent of a country barn, the rink was
an ideal setting for foot-stomping down-home music. Many a spectator,
having come to watch, was seized by the spirit (and in some cases the
“spirits”) and ended up jigging in the aisles! There was
one exception to the rink as a location for the early years of the
festival. In 1964 it was held in the old Halifax Forum.
No longer was there a question about finding contestants. When Mike
MacDougall won the first monetary prize in 1956, the papers pointed out
that he had traveled all the way from Ingonish Beach in Cape Breton
-“especially to compete in the annual event”. In those days
that was a long journey, but the organizers were no longer astonished
at such efforts. As the reputation of the annual competition spread,
fiddlers and step dancers had been coming from far and wide. In turn,
ticket sales increased. Dartmouth residents and contest attendees came
to expect traffic jams and long lines. Many were turned away from sold
out shows disappointed at not being able to get a ticket.
The increased revenue meant that cash prizes could be offered and door
prizes added. Celebrities were added to the program. Ned Landry was a
guest star and judge in 1957, Earl Mitton appeared in 1958. Don Messer
and his Islanders played for the dance that followed the competition in
1959. In other years, the festival included appearances by Cec
MacEachern, Winston “Scotty” Fitzgerald, and John Allen
Cameron.
The Contest Loses a Venue, But Gains a TV Audience
By the mid-sixties, so many contestants were participating that the
contest was running to two and three in the morning. It became clear
that healthy development required pruning. To shorten the evening, step
dancing was eliminated as a competitive category, remaining solely as
entertainment. In turn, the event was renamed the Maritime
Old-Time Fiddling Contest. The show evolved over the years but
never failed to draw a crowd.
Jim Delaney took on the role of contest chair, taking on that role
in 1961 from one of the early founders - John MacCormick. Delaney was
involved with the festival for over 30 years, and was instrumental in
slowly changing the festival into something much more like audiences
see today.
1974 became a year of major changes for the festival. This was perhaps
fitting as the event was celebrating the 25th Anniversary. A
professional master of ceremonies, Vince Mountford, appeared for the
first time and the event was expanded to two nights, with
“Scottish” and “Under Sixteen” classes were
added to the competition. Around the same time, the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) discovered the value of regional culture
and turned the event into a broadcast program. Fate added one more
change. Just as plans were nearing completion, the Dartmouth Memorial
Rink burned to the ground on May 16, 1974. The contest was moved to the
auditorium of Prince Andrew High School in Dartmouth. The change to a
school was fitting in view of a more subtle change that had been taking
place for some time. Every year the contest was attracting more and
better fiddlers, and the challenge grew each year. Eventually, the
“note-readers” (the Old-timers’ name for trained
musicians, who always seemed to have an edge) were battling it out on
stage with those who played by ear. Those reading music were often
products of a growing public school curriculum which was increasingly
including the reading of sheet music, and classical violin instruction,
in its programming.
If the contest is top entertainment, it is at least in part owing to
the fact that the fiddlers are first-class musicians, in many cases the
products of school programs, where old-time fiddling is now at of the
curriculum.
The Festival Moves Again
By 1999 the festival was on the move again the attendance had been
falling from the highs of three to four thousand people, but there were
high hopes for this move. This was the 50th anniversary and it saw the
festival move to the Dartmouth Sportsplex (former site of the Dartmouth
Memorial Rink). In the same year, Halifax was hosting the Fiddles of the World which meant attendance
would likely grow. This also marked the start of a strong partnership
with I.W. Akerley Community College, which provided space for an RV
park serving over 100 RVs The turn of the millennium saw the contest
again at the Sportsplex and yet another challenge. With dwindling
attendance facing many churches in North America, the Men of St. Thomas
More were retiring after 50 years. So a group of volunteers, fiddlers
and friends of the fiddle music agreed to assist the men in 2000 with a
view of taking over for 2001. This marked a change for the event and a
move away from a church organized event, to an independent festival.
For 2001, the Maritime Fiddle Festival Committee, a group of
volunteers, moved the festival location again, this time securing a new
site at the Nova Scotia Community College, I. W. Akerley Campus,
Dartmouth next door to the former Prince Andrew High School location.
They coined the caption “All Under One
Roof”. It was a trial run and among the changes was an
Ecumenical Church Service on site which again proved successful. The
event now included: Opening Reception on Thursday Night, Preliminaries
on Friday Night, Under 12 Fiddling Saturday morning, Finals Saturday
evening, Ecumenical service Sunday morning, a Jamboree Sunday
afternoon, A Social Sunday evening, and a Bon Voyage Breakfast Monday
morning at Smitty’s on Main Street.
Staying at Akerley, Step Dancing Classes were added to the program in
2002 with one class and in 2003 expanded to two classes. The under 12
Fiddle class was divided into two classes 9 & Under and 10-12
years, thus Saturday morning was devoted to preliminaries. Saturday
afternoon was for Step Dancing preliminaries and if that wasn’t
enough, the long standing program of visits to Seniors Homes by fiddle
groups still remained on Saturday afternoon.
2004 saw the return of workshops with a scheduled one day workshop in
both fiddle and piano. The year also marked the 30th
Anniversary of the CBC Television’s participation in the
festival.
More Big Changes
2005 marked both good and bad moments for the festival. After over 30
years of televising the festival, CBC decided to withdraw televising
the event as part of a review of regional programming. However, on the
bright side, the festival welcomed a partnership with the Rotary Club of Dartmouth East as working partners to
our festival.
Over the next three years the festival began to expand again. Funding
was provided to Prince Andrew High School for significant sound and
lighting upgrades to the auditorium which allowed the festival access
to a first class venue. The festival thus returned to Prince Andrew
High School’s 1500 seat Auditorium. Next door, Akerley Community
College continues to serve as the primary site for workshops. The
festival has also continued the RV park at Akerley, and has added sites
in downtown Dartmouth, including Alderney Landing, as venues.
By this time, having been through many titles over the years, the name
of the event had begun to solidify, finding itself with a permanent
name reflecting the variety and size of the event, and the importance
of the celebration to local and regional culture and history. The Maritime Fiddle Festival.
In preparation for the 60th anniversary in 2009 in
2008 the festival launched its new logo, website, and brand. For the
61st festival step dance and fiddle waltz workshops were added.
With the 2011 festival, a partnership was formed with the Charitable Irish Society of Halifax to help them celebrate their 250th anniversary. While holding onto the tradition of old-time fiddle music, Irish flavour was added for this year to recognize the important contributions of Irish music to Nova Scotia and to fiddling. In 2012, the Festival revealed it's "new look" with the purchase of new stage backdrops.
In 2013 the 64th Festival moved to the East Dartmouth Community Centre and staged full events at this facility which worked out fine and the facilities were very accommodating with some minor changes in our administration processes. Based on reports received in general all patrons were pleased with the facilities and the contestants had very little interruption in their format. We once more promoted the facilities of Shubie Park and Campground under 10 km away.
The festival draws people from across Canada and the United States and
remains the pre-eminent Old Time Fiddling Competition in North America.
In 2014 (66th Festival) we were fortunate to have Donnell Leahy accompanied by his Piano player Mac Morin and a surprise visit from the one and only Natalie MacMaster and children.
A thrilling performance by the Leahy family.
2016 saw the festival committee turn a new corner. With the help of Kimberley Holmes (house pianist) a plan was implemented to commence in December 2015 to raise funds to assist with overhead through monthly dances in Carroll's Corner which have been successful.Other fund raising projects have also emerged along with new donors.
In 2017, outside fund raisers continued in Carroll's Corner, Dartmouth, Prince Edward Island