SHELBURNE – The 61st Canadian Open Old Time Fiddle Championship just finished here and saw Kyle Charron, of Barrie, crowned at the finals on Aug. 6.
This was Charron’s third title. His previous championships were in 2007 (when, at 17, he was the youngest champion in the history of the contest) and in 2009. Award results for all of the competition classes are available at www.shelburnefiddlecontest.on.ca.
Charron also won the Canadian Tune of Choice trophy and award with Maytime Swing, by Graham Townsend.
There were about 100 contestants registered from as far away as Boston, and almost 2,000 people attending
Bill Waite, co-chairman of the Shelburne Rotary Club’s organizing committee, said, “Once again this year we were able to put on a fantastic show for the fiddle championship, thanks in no small part to today’s high calibre of fiddle playing.”
A number of the contestants were also featured as part of the fiddling and stepdancing Saturday night entertainment, which included performances by the Ballagh Bunch, Everything Fitz, the Jenish Sisters, Rittmai, and The Third Degree.
The night’s entertainment also included a clear audience favourite – the Judges’ Showcase, giving Doug McNaughton, Karen Reed, and Louis Schryer a chance to demonstrate their fiddling skills.
The youngest competitor this year was 8 year old Abbie Steckley-Leis; the oldest was 83 year old Alf Leno.
The most hotly contested class was the junior championship (ages 13 to 18), which had 20 competitors and was won by Ellen Day of Ottawa. The 10-12 year old class was won by Diana Dawydchak of Etobicoke.
A surprise came during the evening when MC Gary Ballagh was presented with the Invincible Vince Mountford Memorial Trophy for Most Entertaining Fiddler. It was a crowd-pleasing choice and, perhaps for the first time in recorded history, Ballagh was momentarily struck speechless.
For more results, visit the web site.
