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Appalachian String Band Festival Announces 2015 Winners

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The 26th annual Appalachian String Band Festival at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, Fayette County, wrapped up on Sunday. Twenty-one musicians, 12 bands and 11 dancers from California to Maryland took home a total of $7,450 in prize money. Ten of the winners were from West Virginia.

          More than 4,000 musicians and dancers representing 44 states and 13 countries attended the West Virginia Division of Culture and History’s five-day event. Contests were held in four traditional categories – fiddle, banjo, string band and flat-foot dance – plus one neo-traditional string band category.

The contest winners were:

Youth Banjo

          1st Place ($100) – Victor Furtado, Front Royal, Va.

          2nd Place ($50) – Trevor Hammons, Marlinton, W.Va.

          3rd Place ($25) – Joey Webb, Frankfort, Ky.

Banjo

          1st Place ($400) – Victor Furtado, Front Royal, Va.

          2nd Place ($200) – Seth Swingle, Earlysville, Va.

          3rd Place ($150) – Brad Kolodner, Baltimore, Md.

          4th Place ($100) – Hunter Walker, Beckley, W.Va.

          5th Place ($50) – Jesse Pearson, Huntington, W.Va.

Senior Banjo

          1st Place ($200) – Marvin Gaster, Sanford, N.C.

          2nd Place ($100) – Arnie Naiman, Aurora, Ontario, Canada

          3rd Place ($50) – Bertram Levy, Port Townsend, Wash.

Youth Fiddle

          1st Place ($100) – Andrew Vogts, Chadds Ford, Pa.

          2nd Place ($50) – Grayson Wickel, Asheville, N.C.

          3rd Place ($25) – Stephanie Flowers, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Fiddle

          1st Place ($400) – Jake Krack, Marlinton, W.Va.

          2nd Place ($200) – Andrew Fitzgibbon, Montrose, W.Va.

          3rd Place ($150) – Erynn Marshall, Galax, Va.

          4th Place ($100) – Grace Forrest, Big Sur, Calif.

          5th Place ($50) – Henry Barnes, Columbus, Ohio

Senior Fiddle

          1st Place ($200) – Rafaello Stefanini, Elkins Park, Pa.

          2nd Place ($100) – John Longwell, Gandeeville, W.Va.

          3rd Place ($50) – Joe Herrmann, Paw Paw, W.Va.

Youth Traditional Band

          1st Place ($300) – The Onlies, Seattle, Wash.

Traditional Band

          1st Place ($700) – Buffalo Gap, Swoope, Va.

          2nd Place ($400) – Old Drake, Galax, Va.

          3rd Place ($300) – Donkey Nation, Columbus, Ohio

          4th Place ($200) – Uncle Henry’s Favorites, Crozet, Va.

          5th Place ($100) – Bill Kimmons, St. Albans, W.Va.

Youth Neo-Traditional Band

          1st Place ($300) – The Psycho Exploding Orangutans, Chadds Ford, Pa.

Neo-Traditional Band

          1st Place ($700) – Roochie Toochie & the Ragtime Shepherd Kings, Nashville, Tenn.

          2nd Place ($400) – The Rigs, Brooklyn, N.Y. 

          3rd Place ($300) – Himalayan Memo, Cincinnati, Ohio

          4th Place ($200) – Cameron DeWhitt & the Confirmation, Philadelphia, Pa.

          5th Place ($100) – Root 2 Music, Montvale, Va.

Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 15 years of age and under

          1st place ($75) – Victor Furtado, Front Royal, Va.

          2nd Place ($50) – Luke Snuffer, Beckley, W.Va.

Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 16 years of age through 40

          1st Place ($75) – Gyasi Heus, Hinton, W.Va.

          2nd Place ($50) – Kathryn Cohen, Brooklyn, N.Y.

          3rd Place ($25) – Jenn Gooch, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 41 years of age through 59

          1st Place ($75) – Suzanne Ambrose, Kendal, Cumbria, UK

          2nd Place ($50) – Thomas H. Reedy, Parkton, Md.

          3rd Place ($25) – Gene Worlledge, Mt. Lookout, W.Va.

Old-Time Flat-foot Dance – 60 years of age and older

          1st Place ($75) – Rosie Davis, Palmerstown, Dublin, Ireland

          2nd Place ($50) – William McGuigan, Hellam, Pa.

          3rd Place ($25) – Jane Henderson, Bloomington, Ind.

Grand Champion Old-Time Flat-foot Dance Winner ($100) Suzanne Ambrose, Kendal, Cumbria, UK.