Fiddle–A–Thon at Maberly Hall

Jeff Green | Apr 19, 2012

The Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra will be joined by a number of musical groups and other friends as they host the first ever community fiddle-a-thon at the Maberly Hall on Sunday afternoon.

The entire community is invited to join what promises to be a large community jam from 1-7 pm. Orchestra members have gathered sponsors for the event, which is a free event, complete with music and refreshments.

Orchestra Director Cindy McCall said that she came up with the germ of the idea for the event when the orchestra was brainstorming earlier this year to come up with a new fundraising event.

“Over the years I’ve been involved in a lot of fundraising for community groups,” she said, “there were walkathons, bike-a-thons, even a rehears-a-thon one time, so why not a fiddle-a-thon. The group just took it from there and here we are.”

In addition to the Blue Skies Community Orchestra, the Heritage Fiddle Orchestra from Perth, the Long Sault Trio, Fiddlers and Friends, and the Blue Skies Prep Orchestra will be playing at times during the afternoon.

“People are more than welcome to bring instruments, any kind of instrument, and play along with the different groups, or just come out and listen,” said McCall, “the whole idea is for people who have or have never played together to share some music.”

The Blue Skies Fiddle Orchestra receives about 50% of its funding from Blue Skies in the Community, the outreach arm of the Blue Skies Music Festival. Participants in the orchestra pay fees as well, but the fees are kept as low as possible because high fees might make it more difficult from some families to participate. The orchestra also operates an instrument rental program, also at nominal fees. All of this is in keeping with the general aim of Blue Skies in the Community to bring music to everyone in the region who would like to participate. The orchestra does fundraising to cover off some of the costs that fees and the grant do not cover.

“One of the nice things about the Fiddle-a–thon is that the orchestra members have already collected the donations, so the event is free for the public to enjoy,” said Cindy McCall, “not that we won’t accept further donations.”

The Fiddle–a–thon will run from 1-7 pm on Sunday, April 22, at the Maberly Hall.