The 28th annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, Fayette County, wrapped up on Sunday, Aug. 6. Twenty-two musicians, 12 bands and 10 dancers from California to Maine took home a total of $7,550 in prize money.
Three of the winners are from West Virginia, including The Confirmation Bias, Beckley, fifth place Neo-Traditional Band; Mud Hole Out of Control, Marlinton, first place Youth Traditional Band; and Luke Snuffer, Beckley, first place Old-time Flat Foot – 15 years of age and younger.
More than 3,500 musicians, dancers, fans and friends representing all 50 states and 12 countries attended the West Virginia Division of Culture and History’s five-day event that features some of the world’s finest string-band musicians and flat-foot dancers. Contests were held in four traditional categories – fiddle, banjo, string band and flat-foot dance – plus one neo-traditional string band category.
For more information about the 28th annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival, contact Caryn Gresham, deputy commissioner for the division, at 304-558-0220.
A beautiful retreat listed in the National Register of Historic Places and operated by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Camp Washington-Carver serves as the state’s mountain cultural arts center. The facility nurtures the cultural heritage embodied in the site since its dedication in 1942 as a 4-H and agricultural extension camp for West Virginia’s African Americans. The camp is located in Fayette County next to Babcock State Park, just off Rt. 60 (Midland Trail) on Rt. 41.
The division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, is an agency within the Office of Secretary of Education and the Arts with Gayle Manchin, cabinet secretary. It brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
