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.