The Alberta Society of Fiddlers is celebrating their 30th Anniversary on Saturday, June 18. Four fiddling groups will be getting together to celebrate with music, supper, and dancing.

“What we're doing is we're having a dinner and a dance in the evening, but in the afternoon we're going to have different fiddle groups from across the province play. There's four different groups playing Wild Rose Fiddlers of Edmonton, Prairie Mountain Fiddlers in Calgary, Centennial Foothill Fiddlers from around the Olds area and another group around Lacombe, led by Laurie Maetche called the Techno Fiddlers and the Cats and The Fiddles,” said Troy Gates, Regional Director for the Greater Edmonton Region with the Alberta Society of Fiddlers.

The 30th Anniversary will be a full weekend event. On Friday, June 17th, the celebration will kick off with a fiddle jam from 7:00PM to 11:00PM.

“It’s like a circle jam, we sit in a circle and everybody takes a turn to kick off a fiddle tune and that’s it,” said Gates.

Saturday  (June 18th), will be the main event which is free to attend but you will have to pay extra if you are looking to take part in the dinner and the dance. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it has been awhile since an event like this has been able to happen for the Alberta Society of Fiddlers. Gates believes the last event was for their 25th anniversary.

“We held a 25 hour fiddle marathon where we like continuously played fiddle music for 25 hours. We started Friday at 4:00 in the afternoon and then you know it stopped at the next day at 5:00. We had two different stages and went back and forth between stages. We had continuous music playing throughout for 25 hours. We didn't want to do that this year. We're not going to do 30 hours everybody is getting a little older,” said Gates. 

However, Gates says people of all ages are a part of the society. He estimates the ages range from 6-years-old all the way to 96-years-old. During their summer and winter camps he noted that sometimes grandkids are learning from their grandparents.

The event will be hosted at Ponoka’s Moose Hall on June 17 and 18th. Supper tickets must be purchased by Friday, June 10. 

Below you will find more information on the events:

  • Friday
    • Fiddle Jam- 7:00PM- 11:00PM (free)
  • Saturday
    • Main Event- 1:00PM to 5:00PM (free)
    • Supper- 5:30PM ($20) e-transfer  info@albertafiddlers.com or call 780-721-3502 for tickets
    • Dance- 7:30PM- 11:00PM ($10)