Fiddlers on the Peak fiddle contest, Addy WA

Doors at the Addy Grange Hall, 1376 Main Street, open at 8:00 on contest Saturday, and registration comes first. The judges meet at 8:30. At 9:00 there is the Pledge of Allegiance and a flag ceremony. At 9:15 the Small Fry, fiddlers eight years old and younger, play their first round. The Junior-Juniors, nine to twelve, follow, and then the Seniors, sixty and older. The printed schedule notes that it is subject to change depending on the number of contestants.

The morning belongs to the young players. The top five Small Fry and Junior-Juniors return for second rounds, the Juniors, thirteen to seventeen, play their first, and the Youth Pickers take a turn. The two youngest classes receive their awards before the lunch break. At 1:30 the Open division, for all ages, begins. The afternoon brings Adult Picking, the Senior and Junior finals, a raffle drawing, Twin Fiddling, and the Open final. Before the last awards are given, the judges play.

The 2026 contest ran Friday, May 8, and Saturday, May 9. Friday night at the Grange was given to a Band Showcase. The organizers say it is no competition. Bands of three or more acoustic musicians, each with a band name and two tunes, play to entertain and to earn tips. Sign-up ran from 5:00 to 6:30, the showcase began at 7:00, and jamming followed.

The contest’s site says players come from the Spokane area, Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana, and that the contest has grown each year. It is supported by the Washington Old Time Fiddlers Association, by business sponsors, and by volunteer members of the musician community. The association lists Joan Mooney as organizer. After the 2026 weekend the contest posted a few videos and a thanks “to all who volunteered and participated.”

Hoedown, waltz, and tune of choice

Every fiddle division plays a hoedown, a waltz, and a tune of choice, in that order, and no tune may be repeated from one round to the next. A round should run about five minutes. The rules set no penalty for time “unless it is abused.” A contestant may bring up to four accompanists, but no more than three guitar players. The accompanists compete as well, judged by the number of times they appear on stage. A tie is settled by one more tune of the players’ choosing, and a contestant not ready when called is scratched without refund. “The decision of the judge is final.”

The 2012 notice announcing the first contest listed what the judges score: timing, dance ability, fiddling ability, and intonation. The 2013 notice defined intonation as notes that are not sharp or flat, and said that scores from the two rounds are combined.

Twin Fiddling has its own rules and a single round. One player carries the melody and the other plays a note-for-note harmony that moves with it. Both play throughout, with no solos, no trading of the melody, and no counter-melodies. Each pair plays two tunes, one fast and one slow, and the playing should be danceable and at an even tempo. Pickers play two fiddle-style tunes, also one fast and one slow, and their accompanists may not play the melody. The 2013 notice opened the picking contest to any instrument that can be picked, such as a guitar, mandolin, or banjo.

Ribs and workshops at Chewelah Peak

By its own account, the contest began in 2012 to promote old-time fiddling music in Stevens County. The Chewelah Independent of May 17, 2012, ran a notice submitted by Steve McNeil announcing a Fiddle and Pickin’ Contest on June 1 and 2 at the Chewelah Peak Learning Center. The contest took its name from that first location near the 49 North ski resort.

Friday afternoon offered fiddle, mandolin, banjo and guitar workshops. Friday evening offered a dinner by Chef Dan Delcupp at $19.95 an adult plate:

• barbecued pork spare ribs and chicken
• potato salad and macaroni salad
• baked beans and corn on the cob
• a dinner roll
• a double chocolate brownie

After dinner came the Entertainment Division, in which groups and individuals were scored on musicianship, costume, stage presence and audience response. On Saturday the judges would play too, “which is always a real treat,” the notice said.

The first contest was won by Shannon McNeil, son of Steve and Stacey McNeil. In May 2013 the Independent reported that he was 16 and had played the fiddle since he was 11. He went by “Smokin’ Strings” and had placed fifth at the Washington State Fiddlers Competition. “I couldn’t have done any of this without dad’s help,” he told the paper. “He started us all in music.” Two years earlier he had started a screen-printing business, Northwest Tees.

The second annual contest returned to the Peak on May 31 and June 1, 2013. Hour-long workshops in fiddle, guitar, mandolin and beginner banjo cost $16 each. The Peak’s chef, Patrick Sawyer, cooked barbecued spare ribs and dry-rubbed chicken. Two judges scored the Entertainment Division: Scott Schlafman of KCHW 102.7 Chewelah Community Radio and Officer John Bowers of the Chewelah Police Department. The notice told readers that anyone who enjoyed America’s Got Talent would not want to miss Friday night. Over the weekend a banjo was raffled and a silent auction closed at 4 p.m. Saturday. Northwest Tees printed T-shirts on site, and the awards wrapped up around 8 p.m.

That notice was submitted by Alley McNeil. It carried a photograph of Paul Dickerson of Spokane and Macy Morgan of Addy performing at the 2012 contest, along with a line about why such events are scarce: “Contests have been slowly dying and it’s because it takes a lot of time and resources to put one together.”

Down the road to a Grange hall

In 2024 the contest was held in a new venue. The contest’s site now says the Addy Grange “was such a nice venue we have decided to continue to host the contest there.”

Kyle Peterson wrote the District 2 report for the association’s Evergreen Fiddler of June and July 2024. He called the new hall “a cozier Grange Hall just off the road a few miles north of Chewelah.” He had hoped “some of the Really Old Contestants would get confused after driving in circles, decide to go back home and improve my chances of placing.” They did not, and he was scheduled between Jan Shelby and Barbara Curtis. “When it came time for me to go on stage after Janet, I gave an embarrassed little shrug and smiled and played the tunes I brought.” He recommended the videos of Shelby, Curtis, Leah and Helen Huguenin, and Rob and Will Bailey, and added: “Skip the one between Janet and Barbara.”