Fiddle music featured at national park, near Beatrice

BEATRICE – Music during Homesteading times was featured this Memorial Day Holiday weekend.  The Homestead National Historical Park held their Tallgrass Prairie Fiddle Festival on Saturday….an annual event held each year on the Memorial Day weekend.

A dozen players competed in junior, senior and legends divisions on a stage outside the park’s Education Center.

 
Ranger Amber Kirkendahl says fiddle music was part of families settling America.  "One of the legacies of the Homestead Act is music...specifically, fiddle music. We know from primary documents....letters, oral histories, diary entries....that people relied on the fiddle. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote fiction books of her families homesteading experience. She talked a lot about Pa's fiddle...and how it would be kind of the center of community events...whether that was dancing or community gatherings. But also, it would help fight the loneliness."

Each year, the local Coffin Family foundation, whose goal is to support and enrich the community….sponsors the fiddle event, providing the prize money for the contestants. Musician Chris Sayre emceed the competition, where each fiddler plays a set of three tunes. Divisions include those who’ve played for less than five years….those for more than five years….and the legends….musicians who’ve won the senior division in past years.

Prior to the noon competition, participants were able to take part in a fiddle workshop.  The national park four miles west of Beatrice will be hosting several activities during the upcoming Homestead Days celebration, in late June.

2023 Tallgrass Prairie Fiddle Festival Results
Homestead National Historical Park – May 27, 2023

Junior Division
1st Place Name: Jonah Rabe, Lincoln, NE
2nd Place Name: Callia Thompson, Lincoln, NE
3rd Place Name: Maddie Bock, Lincoln, NE

Senior Division
1st Place Name: Elya Constable, Blue Rapids, KS
2nd Place Name: Eli Ketter,  Home, Kansas

Legends Division
1st Place Name: Jason Shaw, Lincoln, NE
2nd Place Name: Gabriel Marks, Lincoln, NE
3rd Place Name: Grace Dowd, Lincoln, NE