Biggest and Best Yet!

Hello Everyone! We had the biggest and best fiddle & banjo contest yet! First off, I want to thank L&B's for giving us the hall rental for FREE! If you have a chance, please send them a quick thank-you note. Their address is: L&B's Eastend, 1215 Spotsylvania, New Athens, IL 62264. They served food until 3:00 p.m. and beverages all day.

We had a total of 44 contestants, and we were able to get through them all in just under 3-1/2 hours. Everyone was very cooperative and ready to go -- thank you for making the contest run smoothly! Here are the results:

Open Fiddle
1st - Brian Smyth (Most Entertaining Award)
2nd - Mickey Soltys
3rd - Chelsea Perkinson
4th - Tim Dever
5th - Dave Hollinshead

Senior Fiddle
1st - Ron Dailey
2nd - John Bell
3rd - Merle Jones (Oldest Fiddler)
4th - John Barnett
5th - Pat Sorrell

Junior I Fiddle (16-18 Years)
1st - Tyler Moore (Most Entertaining Award)
2nd - Jennifer Robbins

Junior II Fiddle (13-15 Years)
1st - Jake Hammel
2nd - Ashley Heyen
3rd - Makayla Smith
4th - Charlie Hall

Junior III Fiddle (12 & Under)
1st - Veronica Steibel
2nd - Paige Johnson (Most Entertaining Award)
3rd - Colton Dever
4th - Nathan Poenitske
5th - Reggan Farney
Lindsay Martin (Youngest Fiddler)

Open Banjo
1st - Justin Robbins
2nd - Carrie Gallagher (Most Entertaining Award)
3rd - Jeff Miller
4th - Brian Smyth
5th - Terry Hill

Senior Banjo
1st - John Bell (Oldest Banjo Player)

Junior Banjo (15 & Under)
1st - Nicole Warnecke (Most Entertaining Award)
2nd - Makayla Smith
3rd - Emily Hall
4th - Benjamin Politte (Youngest Banjo Player)

If I've left something out, please let me know! I'll update this post with more information then.