NATCHITOCHES – The Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State University will present the program “Fiddlin’ with the Finest! A Celebration of Louisiana Folk Fiddling” Saturday June 14 at 11 a.m. at the Many Depot Museum at 750 Highway 171 Bypass in Many. The event is free and open to the public. 

Three past Louisiana State Fiddle Champions, Clancey Stewart, Joe Suchanek, and Ron Yule, will discuss the importance of the folk fiddling tradition with Dr. Shane Rasmussen, director of the Louisiana Folklife Center and professor of English at NSU. Live music performed throughout the program will include various regional fiddle styles accompanied by demonstrations of fiddle stick playing and twin fiddling. A Q&A session on participating in fiddle competitions will follow. Fiddlers of all skill levels are invited to bring their instruments for a jam session with the invited musicians. 

This year’s Louisiana State Fiddle Championship will take place as part of the 45th annual Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival, to be held on Saturday July 19 at 1 p.m. in the Magale Recital Hall on the NSU campus. Fiddlers may compete in the championship or non-championship division as well as in the twin fiddle category. Registration is at noon in the first-floor foyer outside the Magale Recital Hall. The Fiddle Championship winner will perform on the Festival main stage in Prather Coliseum at 5 p.m. 

The event is sponsored by the Louisiana Folklife Center. Support for the Festival is provided by grants from the Cane River National Heritage Area, Inc., the City of Natchitoches, Cleco, the Louisiana Division of the Arts Decentralized Arts Fund Program, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the Louisiana Office of Tourism, the Natchitoches Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Natchitoches Historic District Development Commission, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council and the State of Louisiana. 

The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. 

For more information, call the Louisiana Folklife Center at (318) 357-4332, email folklife@nsula.edu, or go to nsula.edu/folklife.