For the first time since 2019, area folk and bluegrass musicians will once again converge at Howell Living History Farm on Saturday, August 26, for the 36th annual fiddle contest sponsored by the Hunterdon Folk Exchange.
Jugtown Mountain String Band opens at noon, playing the folk classic “Soldier’s Joy,” with Carol Behrens on upright acoustic bass; Greg Myers playing fiddle, guitar, banjo, and mandolin; Dick Devore on banjo and autoharp; and Monica Franke playing guitar.
The fiddlers then begin competing, playing two songs “of varying tempo and not to exceed three minutes each,” according to Behrens, who organizes the contest.
The Hunterdon Folk Exchange was established in 1982 by Hunterdon County residents with the goal of preserving and promoting the county’s folk arts.
Behrens says the nonprofit organization has “sponsored house concerts and focused on holding musical and craft events, mini folk festivals, local concerts, and the (now-defunct) Cat n’ Fiddle Coffeehouse” in the four decades since its founding. The group hosted its first fiddle contest, “Fiddles in February,” nearly 40 years ago at the Flemington Baptist Church. Later contests were held at North Hunterdon and Hunterdon Central high schools as the number of contestants increased.
Behrens was born in Jersey City, where her mother was a seamstress and her father was a bookkeeper who played piano at home and organ at church. She points out, “Although I grew up with music in my home, I did not learn to play an instrument until I was 40. I attended many old time and bluegrass festivals, concerts, jams, and clogging (clog dancing) sessions.”
At one of these events, Behrens began her transition from clogging to performing. She says “a bassist was demonstrating her instrument. She encouraged me to give it a try, especially since I was familiar with, and danced to, the music.”
It was when a fellow musician had a bass for sale that she seized the opportunity. “I purchased it and was hooked. I did not take formal lessons. As is often the tradition in this style of music, I learned through the tips and patience of friends guiding me along the way.”
Despite her urban upbringing, Behrens has lived most of her life on Jugtown Mountain, near Clinton, where she has taught elementary school. Her partner, the late Bill Huber, was a fiddler and vocalist who founded Jugtown Mountain String Band in 1991. Howell Farm director Pete Watson recalls, “He had a voice that was as smooth as honey.” Although Huber died more than 20 years ago, the band has lived on.
The 2023 exchange will be eventful in another way. For the first time in more than 20 years, Jugtown Mountain String Band will be playing without member Paul Prestopino, who died in July. Behrens says that Prestopino, who played mandolin, banjo, guitar, and dobro, “was always at the fiddle contest, playing and running the sound system. He was one of the finest musicians I had the honor to play with.”
Fiddle music originated with Scottish and Irish immigrants, many of whom settled in the Appalachian Mountains. It received renewed and widespread attention with the release of “The Anthology of American Folk Music” in 1952.
These six records, curated by Harry Smith from his extensive collection of recordings, have been cited as instrumental to the revival of folk music in the 1960s. The anthology’s earliest recording was from 1927, when the advent of newer technology allowed for higher quality recordings. The collection spans the five-year period known as the “Golden Age of Provincial Fiddle Music,” according to Behrens. She adds, “After 1932, the Depression ended most home and field recordings.”
Fiddlers in the contest at the farm will be competing for prizes, with $175 for the winning fiddler; $125 for second place; $100 for third place; and $75 for fourth place. For younger fiddlers (junior division/age 13 and under), first place wins $30; second place will be awarded $25; and third place gets $20. Behrens notes that Howell Farm arranges funding for the fiddle contest through the Mercer County Park Commission.
At the last fiddle contest at Howell, 17-year-old Grace Miller of Stewartsville, a violinist with the Hunterdon Symphony, was the winning fiddler. Five years earlier, she had won the junior division.
“At the close of the contest, following announcement of the winners, all the musicians are invited to join us at the base of the stage to play ‘Soldier’s Joy’ and ‘Ragtime Annie,’ plus a few additional tunes that most fiddlers know,” Behrens adds.
Regarding the contest’s move to Howell Farm, Behrens explains, “The Jugtown Mountain String Band had been playing at a variety of events at Howell Farm. It was a natural fit to bring the contest to the farm.”
Watson points out, “In the time period that the farm interprets (circa 1900), there were gatherings called fiddler conventions. The contest helps us present that part of the lifestyle that people knew then and can appreciate now.”
In 1998 Watson and Huber worked together to move the contest to Howell Farm. That year, Howell Farm had its first Amazing Maize Maze fundraiser. To celebrate the farm hosting the contest, the maze was mowed in the shape of a fiddle.
In addition to the music, the friends of Howell Farm will be grilling barbecue fare and offering their old-fashioned ice cream — including peach and blueberry. Visitors can also go on a hayride around the farm, in wagons pulled by the farm’s horses, and children can make a tambourine to play along with the fiddlers.
Fiddlin’ on the Farm, Howell Living History Farm, 70 Wooden’s Lane, Hopewell Township. Saturday, August 26, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Musicians play from noon to 3 p.m. Free admission, donations welcome. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors can go on a horse-drawn hayride and children can make a tambourine, both for a nominal fee. Food will be available for purchase. 609-737-3299 or www.howellfarm.org.
A crowd gathers at Howell Farm to watch Greg Myers, Carol Behrens, and the Jugtown Mountain String Band perform at the annual fiddle contest, set for Saturday, August 26.,
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