he 60th Canadian Open Old Time Fiddle Championship finished here and it is difficult to say which was more successful: the show or the champion.
Julie Fitzgerald, of Bancroft, was crowned at the open championship finals on Aug. 7.
This was her first championship and she is only the third woman to win the event, following in the footsteps of Eleanor Townsend (1979) and April Verch (1998). www.shelburnefiddlecontest.on.ca.
Julie and Kerry Fitzgerald won the duet.
Julie, Tom and Kerry Fitzgerald won the Gospel competition.
Julie also won the novelty competition.
Kerry Fitzgerald won the Canadian Tune of Choice trophy and award as well as placing sixth in the open class.
There were close to 100 contestants registered from as far away as Boston, Massachusetts, and over 2,000 visitors over the course of the event – another successful edition of Canada’s premier fiddle championship has passed.
Bill Waite, chairman of the Shelburne Rotary Club’s contest organizing committee, said, “It was wonderful to be able to put on such a great show for the 60th contest. The calibre of playing in all the classes was unprecedented this year.”
The youngest competitor this year was 4-year-old Paul-Jacob Lemelin (son of contestants Melika and Paul Lemelin), and the oldest was 82-year-old Alf Leno.
The tradition of the last several years continued with the most hotly contested Class being the junior championship (13 to 18-year-olds), which had 18 competitors (almost double of most of the other classes) and which was won by Tom Fitzgerald for the second year in a row.
On Thursday night, Scott Woods, of Fergus, returned to the place he has won twice and wowed the crowd of close to 700 with exceptional fiddling and a dynamic show.
