Starting off the second half of the summer concert series, the Crooked Lake Fiddle Club will hold a concert at 6:30 p.m.Wednesday, July 28 at the Yates County courthouse lawn located on Main and Court Streets in Penn Yan.
The preservation of memories, skills and talents “of old” is a vital part of our lives.
These actions of life shape our history and act as a basis for the future. Some people take pictures to retain memories of fun times and others collect or store their valuables to pass down as heirlooms. Others, like the Crooked Lakes Fiddle Club, choose to tell stories and keep the times alive through action and through music.
This fiddling club was founded in February of 1997 with a first priority to preserve Old Time Fiddling for the enjoyment and education of generations to come.
The Crooked Lakes Fiddle Club has about 40 members and they meet at St. Mark’s Terrace at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Fridays of each month.
The rehearsals are open to the public for your listening pleasure or you can feel free to join in and jam right along with them.
These musicians have a bluegrass blend of instruments including fiddles, banjo, guitar, mandolin, hammered dulcimer, autoharp, and washboard.
They will entertain you with country and bluegrass classics with such tunes as “Comin’ Around the Mountain,” “Wabash Cannonball,” “Golden Slippers,” “Good Night Irene,” as well as a menagerie of train songs and battle songs.
The audience is encouraged to clap their hands, tap their toes, and sing right along since most of the songs are familiar.
Old time fiddling represents a nostalgic link with America’ past — a tradition rooted in the simple, honest, hardworking lives of rural America. It was a chance for isolated communities to gather around and share some good music and dancing.
Those who attend this concert will surely walk away refreshed in ways that today’s electronic music cannot satisfy.
The concert is free. Bring your own lawn chair, as this is an outdoor concert. In case of inclement weather, the concert will be held indoors at the adjoining Baptist Church. The intermission sales will be sponsored by the Yates County Arts Council.
There’s plenty of free parking and hospitality.
