Inspired
by the music behind him Sunday, Harold Hoffman of Kutztown
dances with Becky Strobel of Lyons, a woman he didn't know
until he asked her to dance during the Lyons Fiddle
Festival.
Dave
Rial of Pocopson, Chester County, plays the fiddle Sunday
at Lyons Park.
Sally
Fetterman, 8, of Boyertown plays a mandolin.
Hundreds
turned out Sunday at Lyons Park for the 27th annual Lyons
Fiddle Festival. Matt Mason of Allentown, left, and Dot
Adams of York play mandolins.
A
crowd watches a competition on stage during the Lyons
Fiddle Festival, which also featured jam sessions
throughout the park.
Bluegrass
fans jam Lyons Park
Stage,
trees serve as venues for banjo, bass, fiddle players
by
Kristin Boyd -Reading
Eagle
After
hearing a few of the jam sessions happening around him,
Len Barish of Kutztown somewhat regretted coming to the
Lyons Fiddle Festival empty-handed.
"I play banjo and guitar, but not good," he
said, laughing. "It makes me want to go grab my
banjo. Almost."
Barish was among the hundreds of people who tapped their
toes, clapped their hands and sang along to bluegrass
classics during the 27th annual festival, held Sunday
afternoon at Lyons Park.
"This is the one time of year I can come and hear
this music," Barish said. "The 'pickers' in the
background are my favorite. You get to just come and play,
sometimes with people you don't even know. It's a good
time, good entertainment."
On one side of the park, a sea of lawn chairs and blankets
faced the stage, where competitors from as far away as
Virginia and Illinois played their best bluegrass ditties,
including "Back Up and Push," "Turkey in
the Straw," "Rocky Top" and "Arkansas
Traveler."
"This is unbelievable - look at all the people
here," said David Abel of Lyons, who helped organize
the event. "It's a lot of nice music for not a lot of
money."
Abel turned to listen to some of the jam sessions nearby.
"It's real, average people playing really good
music," he said. "It's really great to watch
them play."
Groups of bluegrass players were stationed at several
trees, and crowds formed around them. They had basses and
fiddles, banjos and acoustic guitars.
Some players had known one another for years or previously
played together, while others were meeting for the first
time. The music, whether they knew the songs or not,
served as their connection, said John and LeAnne Andersen
of Gilbertsville.
"You just start playing," said John Andersen,
who plays bass and whose wife plays fiddle. "Look, I
have blisters, and it doesn't even matter.
"To hear these old-time songs, it's the acoustic
roots of American music."
Diane Selwood of Bally agreed.
She fell in love with the Fiddle Festival last year and
had to come back.
But this year was more special, she said, because, in
addition to listening to the jam sessions, she also got to
watch her 11-year-old granddaughter, Maddie Jupina of
Exeter Township, compete in the fiddle contest.
"It's very relaxing," Selwood said, her eyes
fixated on a jam session just starting up a few feet away.
"It's nice, old-fashioned fun."
