Community Chorus with a “Special Fiddlers’ Jamboree Moment” (View Video Here)

June 29, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Almost every year since its beginning, the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Crafts Festival has counted on the Community Chorus to deliver a stirring patriotic program  as the festival usually falls on or near the 4th of July

In 2019, the Jamboree audience was treated to the chorus’ presentation of “Which Way America”.

View the entire performance in the video below.

MAH00063 from dwayne page on Vimeo.

June 28, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A Spring Hill teenager, the focus of a TBI Endangered Child Alert, and a 16-year-old Indiana boy were found late Saturday night in DeKalb County.

The teens, 17 year old Brooke Tabitha Ciolkosz of Spring Hill and 16 year old Dawson Brink of Indiana were taken into custody after authorities tracked them from a cell phone ping. They were asleep in a tent near their white pickup truck which was stuck on an old logging trail off Parsley Road near Center Hill Lake. An AR-15 rifle, fully loaded 30 caliber pistol, and a large amount of ammunition were also found there.

When she went missing Saturday morning, Spring Hill police said Ciolkosz was believed to have left with Brink in a white 1996 Dodge Dakota with a possible Indiana license plate.

The TBI said Brink took the truck from his home without permission and also left with an AR-15, a handgun, and a large amount of ammunition. Both teens were considered endangered.

Prior to their arrests, police said the last known possible location of the two was on Interstate 40 at 9 a.m. Saturday headed east bound approximately 30 miles west of Cookeville.

In a prepared statement, Sheriff Patrick Ray said a search began locally Saturday night after someone spotted a suspicious vehicle on Parsley Road.

“A call came into Central Dispatch at 8:42 p.m. about a white pickup which had gone down a logging road and not come out. A deputy searched the area but did not see or hear anything”.

“At 11:30 p.m., Chief Deputy Robert Patrick and I (Sheriff Ray) began working with a Detective from Spring Hill concerning the two runaways, identified as Ciolkosz and Brink, who were considered armed and dangerous. The teens were in a white Dodge Dakota pickup truck with Indiana tags and they had in their possession an AR-15 Rifle, a pistol and large amounts of ammo. The Spring Hill Detective was also tracking the juveniles’ cell phone movements. Their phone pinged around the cell tower at Silver Point. Meanwhile the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Tennessee Highway Patrol searched an area near Interstate 40 and on Tucker Ridge Road in Putnam County looking for the teens”.

“As Chief Deputy Patrick and I were enroute to Parsley Road, Brink’s father called the Spring Hill Detective and said he was on Parsley Road with the complainant who made the initial call about seeing a suspicious vehicle,” Sheriff Ray continued.

“I (Sheriff Ray) then contacted a Tennessee Highway Patrolman, who was also looking for the juveniles in Putnam County, to meet them”.

“At 11:52 p.m., Chief Deputy Patrick, 4 members of the Sheriff’s Department, a Tennessee Highway Patrolman, and I arrived on Parsley Road. After walking down a logging road that led to the lake we found the white Dodge Dakota which was stuck. The juveniles were there asleep outside of the vehicle in a tent. They were awakened and taken into custody without incident. A fully loaded 40 caliber pistol and an AR-15 rifle were also recovered,” said Sheriff Ray.

No local charges will be sought on the juveniles.

June 27, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A 2009 Fiddle-Off in the Firehall!

Rarely a year goes by when the Smithville Fiddlers’ Jamboree and Crafts Festival doesn’t have to take a pause during the weekend due to a passing thunderstorm. But in 2009, it was the rain that didn’t take a pause at least in the closing hours of the festival forcing the 38th annual Jamboree from the stage to the Smithville Fire Hall for the completion of the finals including the Grand Champion Fiddle-Off.

(The video shown below is the latest in a series of Fiddlers’ Jamboree “special moments” from past festivals to be presented by WJLE through the 4th of July weekend. In this segment, Gailanne Amundsen, the eventual 2009 Jamboree Fiddle-Off winner, competed for the title in front of the judges without a sound system, no LIVE radio or television coverage, and only a handful of spectators after the show was moved due to rain from the stage to the Smithville Fire Hall. The Jamboree came to a close at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning, July 5 ,2009)

Gailanne Amundsen of Longwood, Florida won the coveted Berry C. Williams Memorial Trophy that year as the Grand Champion fiddler of the festival. Amundsen made it to the fiddle off by winning the Junior Fiddling competition and beat out the winner of the Senior Fiddling contest Scott Miller of Hanceville, Alabama for the overall top trophy.

The scheduled two day festival that year (Friday and Saturday, July 3 & 4, 2009) stretched into the third day coming to a close just after 2 a.m. Sunday morning, July 5.

Rain and lightning forced a delay in the competition during the preliminaries of the square dancing on Saturday, July 4 and several hours later, as the weather continued to threaten, a decision was made to resume the festival but to move from the stage to inside of the Smithville Fire Hall, where the fire trucks are usually housed. All the contestants in the finals performed directly in front of a table of judges without microphones, and while there was no television or radio audience, a small crowd gathered in the fire hall to hear them.

All the preliminaries, except for the square dancing competition, were concluded before the rains came and six of the eleven square dance teams scheduled had already performed. The others chose to withdraw during the rain delay, along with two of the teams which had previously competed. There was no finals competition for the remaining square dance teams. They agreed to allow their scores in the preliminaries to determine how they would place.

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