Lots of rain yesterday, Friday. But today, on Saturday, April 7, 2018, a quick look out the window shows a mostly blue sky with a few clouds. I wonder if the Sonoma County flood alert is still in effect? Should I go for it? Sure, why not give it a try. Okay, after driving 15 miles on the road headed north I’m in Santa Rosa, and like the guy jumping from the ten story building said, “So far so good.” Now it’s another half-hour drive to Cloverdale. I wonder if there is any flooding ahead? Now I’m driving up Fountain Grove Parkway through Santa Rosa, headed north. Fountain Grove WAS the place where the well-to-do folks used to live, you know, doctors, lawyers, high-achievers. But now there are just a few homes left out of 500 or more (that’s a guess) that escaped the devastating wildfires last October. A sad, sad sight to behold. Okay, now onto the Highway 101 freeway.
All righty, I’m in the midst of the insanity traffic, but it’s lightening up as I drive north away from the town of Healdsburg. What a relief. And now I’m on the southern outskirts of Cloverdale, getting ready to turn off Hwy 101 onto the Citrus Fairgrounds turn-off. Cloverdale, Ernie Hunt lives here, somewhere, maybe I’ll see him today. And now that I am reaching the fairgrounds the first thing I notice is that there is some parking available outside the main entrance to the fairgrounds. Haven’t seen that before, all the years I’ve been here. That means there are not as many fiddle fans here as in years past, or maybe people are just sleeping in on this Saturday morning. It’s ten o’clock. We’ll see what happens as the day unfolds.
Once inside the large, four room fairgrounds auditorium, things are bustling. The doors opened at 8:00am, the Welcome was at 9:30, the judges met on stage at 9:35, and the contest started at 9:45, with the Pee-Wees, Jr.-Jr., and Junior kids playing their hearts out. At 11am the “Slow Jam” starts, with eight jammers showing up. It is a good jam, with experienced jammers showing us how to do it, and a couple rookies in their first jam. The jam-rookies are hesitant at first, but then “break out” and play some beginner-type leads for the first time in their jamming experience, followed by mile-wide grins. That makes a jam really worthwhile, doesn’t it? Do you remember your first time jamming?
In the large room of the auditorium, next to the larger room where the fiddle contestants are playing, the fiddle contestants who are about to perform are warming up. Around thirty of them. There’s nothing much worse than the sound of a cold fiddle, and the contestants know it. In the same room are two separate groups of fifteen or twenty fiddlers in a circle, sawing away tune after tune, old-timey style where every fiddler plays the tune melody together at the same time. There is a banjo player in one of the groups, but he is being drowned-out by the fiddles (bet this is the first time this happened). Also in this room are a number of arts-and-crafts vendors, with colorful ear rings, bracelets, and other take home treasures to behold. Homespun treasures, no large corporation stuff here.
Now I wander into another large room (the “Commercial Room”), where the CBA Bluegrass Performing Stage is located. At one table Darby and Bruno are making sure the “word” on the CBA is getting distributed. Debby McClatchy is on stage, catching the attention of the audience with her banjo and singing that is matched by no one. When she is done performing she’ll be followed by the “Antioch Strolling Strings” (around 20 youthful bodies all expertly playing fiddle tunes), the “Haute Flash Quartet” (five mature ladies playing swing songs/tunes), and the “Roadoilers” band performing old timey tunes. Man oh man, tell me where can you spend $19 ($15 for seniors) and get a full day of fiddle contestants, be in a jam, and listen to four different bands? And did I mention the lunch?
Over the years at this fiddle festival I’ve never seen lines this long in the other large room of the auditorium that is serving lunch. There goes Bert Daniel scurrying across the room, my mouth is full of BBQ sandwich, so I can’t say hello. And now after finishing lunch myself, I know why the lines are so long. The “Red Rose” BBQ catering company out of Santa Rosa is the reason. Ribs, chicken, pulled pork, coleslaw, and fries to die for. Somebody told me the October wildfires destroyed the Red Rose’s building in Santa Rosa, so I hope they make a HEAP OF MONEY today. You’d swear you were having BBQ in Texas, New Orleans, or BBQ Heaven.
It takes a lot of organizers and volunteers to make an event like this happen. Too numerous to name, even though the CBA’s Mark Hogan is this year’s Entertainment Coordinator, and he is doing a mighty fine job today to make it all happen smoothly. And lets not forget Colleen Hogan, making sure “stuff” gets done to insure a good festival, even though I don’t know what that “stuff” is! (in addition to keeping an eye on Mark to make sure he behaves)
It’s 5:00pm, and pulling onto Highway 101, headed south, back toward Santa Rosa from Cloverdale, I’m thinking about what a great event this Cloverdale Fiddle Festival is, after over 40 years. Yep, the Cloverdale Fiddle Festival, where all the men, women, and children are fiddlers. And if they aren’t, they most definitely want to be.
