Fiddlers convention winners announced

Winners have been announced for the recent Mount Airy Bluegrass and Old-Time Fiddlers Convention, which organizers said will go down as one of the best in its 52-year history.

“We had a fabulous crowd this year,” one organizer, Judy Joyner, summed-up Wednesday regarding the convention held earlier this month at Veterans Memorial Park.

“Everyone had a great time,” Joyner added.

That goes for winners of various competition categories involving both bands and individual instruments along with dance — for adults and youths.

A list of those musicians, for which home communities were not available in most cases, includes:

• Adult Bluegrass Band — First place, The Foggy Window Ramblers; second place, Harrison Ridge; third place, The Signal Mountain Serenaders; fourth place, Ragged Edge; fifth place, Promise Land.

• Adult old-time band — 1. The New Floyd County Ramblers; 2. The Slate Mountain Ramblers; 3. Shock Doctrine; 4. Up Jumped Trouble; 5. The Surry County Bobcasters.

• Adult bluegrass fiddle — 1. Charlie Tolbert; 2. Ella Thomas; 3. John Hoffman; 4. Cody Bauer; 5, Wayne Erbsen.

• Adult old-time fiddle — 1. Richard Bowman; 2. Ben Miller; 3. Libby Weitenour; 4. Shane Garrett; 5. Joe Overton.

• Adult old-time banjo — 1. Marsha Todd; 2. Trish Fore; 3. Ashley Watkins; 4. Nancy Sluys; 5. Jared Boyd.

• Adult folk song — 1. Gina Rosencrans, Fries, Virginia; 2. Tommy Nichols, Toast; 3. Debbi Kauffmann, Nashville Tennessee; 4. Andrew Small, Floyd, Virginia; 5. Asentha Easter, Cana, Virginia.

• Adult guitar — 1. Chad Harrison; 2. Ryan Lambert; 3. Cody McGrady; 4. Marshall Brown; 5. Tae Childress.

• Adult dobro — 1. Keith Aiken; 2. James Murdock; 3. Charlie Milliron; 4. Pammy Lassiter; 5. Candace Noah.

• Adult mandolin — 1. Todd Hiatt; 2. Zeb Gambill; 3. Arnie Solomon; 4. Daniel Ullom; 5. Alex Meredith.

• Adult autoharp — 1. Penny Kilby; 2. Vicki Boyd; 3. Jimmy Handy; 4. Mason Winfrey.

• Adult bass — 1. Brair McDowell; 2. Shannon Marry.

• Adult dulcimer — 1. Phyllis Gaskins; 2; Danny Casstevens; 3. Tom Thorton; 4. Dick Lamb; 5. Ehukai Teves.

• Adult dance — 1. Michael Motley; 2. Nathan Vargo; 3. Maggie Oakes; 4. Chevie Compton; 5. Rodney Sutton.

• Youth bluegrass band — 1. The Walls Band, Vale.

• Youth bluegrass fiddle —1. Nolen Strupeck, LaPorte, Indiana; 2. Alexander Ferranti, Raleigh; 3. Bodie Gibbons, Mount Savage, Maryland; 4. Benjamin Ferranti, Raleigh; 5. John Tate, Lawsonville.

• Youth old-time fiddle — 1. Fintan McGrath, Rockbridge County, Virginia; 2. Cheyenne Grantham, Boones Mill, Virginia; 3. Ola Moeckel, Floyd, Virginia; 4. Miles Kexel, Asheville; 5. Kylee McKoy, Gaston, South Carolina.

• Youth bluegrass banjo — 1. Peter Trakimowicz, Wilmington; 2. Shawn Rippel, Pilot Mountain; 3. Silas Walls, Vale.

• Youth old-time banjo — 1. Margo McSweeney, Floyd, Virginia; 2. William Moeckel, Floyd, Virginia; 3. Wren Hello, Floyd, Virginia; 4. Wyatt Grantham, Boones Mill, Virginia; 5. Samuel Spenser, Floyd, Virginia.

• Youth guitar — 1. Tucker Connor, Fleetwood; 2. Elijah Smith, Mount Airy; 3. Andy Nichols, Mount Airy; 4. Rickie Caudle, Mount Airy; 5. Corbin Walls, Vale.

• Youth bass — 1. Coley Palmer, Dobson; 2. Harvey Baker, Winston-Salem; 3. Michael Plumley, Tega Cay, South Carolina; 4. Nick McMillian; 5. Levi Head, Mount Airy.

• Youth mandolin — 1. Orson Cornett, Boone; 2. Luke Spenser, Floyd Virginia; 3. Hollis Oakes, Snowville, Virginia; 4. Chris Trak Wilmington; 5. Sarah Walls, Vale.

• Youth folk song —1. Tucker Conner, Fleetwood; 2. Miles Kexel, Asheville; 3. Gracie Terry, Bahama; 4. Hollis Oakes, Snowville, Virginia; 5. Bodie Gibbons, Mount Savage, Maryland.

• Youth dance — 1. Margo MacSweeney Floyd, Virginia; 2. Miles Kexel, Asheville; 3. Ola Moeckel, Floyd, Virginia; 4. Misha MacSweeney, Floyd, Virginia; 5. William Moeckel, Floyd, Virginia.

The most promising youth award went to Peter Trakimowicz, with The Walls Band recognized for upcoming youth honors.

Competition winners were awarded prize money, ribbons or trophies.