It’s hard to sit still when there’s a fiddle in the room.
With a theme this year of “Pennsylvania Fiddle Tunes” for the 39th annual Crook Farm Fair and Country Music Festival, no one will be expected to stay still.
The music festival will be held Aug. 23-26 at Crook Farm in conjunction with Bradford Landmark Society’s Crook Farm Fair. The fair will include numerous craft and food vendors and demonstrations of old-fashioned living throughout the farm.
“This festival is a fundraiser, my way of saying thank you for supporting the local music,” said Howard Blumenthal, an event organizer.
A local group that plays old time music, the Crook Farm All-Stars, plays regularly on the farm.
“We’re pretty excited about the theme because there’s a group from Pittsburgh, Mark Tamsula and the Lackawanna Longnecks, that specializes in southwestern Pennsylvania fiddle tunes,” said Blumenthal.
Those tunes were collected by Sam Bayard, “a guy who traipsed around Pennsylvania and collected old fiddle tunes from old-timers.”
Not only will Tamsula and gang be performing on the main stage, they will also present workshops featuring their tunes.
Also on the schedule will be Brett Howland, aka “America’s Gatekeeper of Traditional Music.”
Blumenthal explained that Howland is a historian and a musician who specializes in music from 1925 to 1940. Howland also portrays Uncle Dave Macon, a famous banjo player and storyteller.
Blumenthal said Howland will be set up on the front porch of the farmhouse all weekend.
“People can gather around him, pull up a chair, ask questions. He’ll tell stories,” Blumenthal noted.
While attendees are welcome to participate as little or as much as they wish in the musical festivities, the spirit of old time music encourages participation through dancing, singing or playing instruments.
Don’t dance or play? They’ll teach you.
A number of workshops will be held over the weekend: ukulele with Drew Danielson; clawhammer banjo, as well as back-up guitar for old time music, with Janet Reing and Mike Reing; Pennsylvania tunes from Greene County & Dunbar Fiddlers with Mark Tamsula, Richard Wither and Dave Krysty; “instant musician” with Gayle & Larry; common fiddle tunes with words with Allen Hopkins; old time fiddle with Paul Kirk; and clawhammer double D tuning with Stephen Rapp.
Numerous visiting musicians and dancers will showcase their talents, too.
Appearing on the main stage will be Lackawanna Longnecks; WNY Fiddle Kids; The Hooligans; Brett Howland; Down the Road; Tamsula, Withers & Krysty; Gnarled Gnuckles; Triple Fret; Fair to Fiddlin’ String Band; Blue Mule Bluegrass, Keep off the Grass; and Mary and Mark.
A gospel sing around will be held at 10:30 Aug. 26. Round and square dancing will be held Aug. 24-26, and there will be a jam/song tent the evening of Aug. 24, as well as all day Aug. 25-26.
For the Saturday night dance, Blumenthal has lined up as caller Ron Buchanan, who calls Southern-type square dance.
Visitors to Bradford will be invited to camp by the farm starting Thursday night through Sunday.
A crew from Cleveland, Ohio, will help visitors learn to flatfoot dance. Plywood will be set up on the ground for dancers.
The complete schedule of performances and workshops can be found at Crooktop.com.
