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Monday, March 3, 19i0 THE JANESVILLE GAZETTE Pag? 11He Plans To Revive Old-Time Fiddlers' Contest in StoughtonBy ELIZABETH HATLEN of The Gazette StaffWith both the cost of transportation and entertainment going up. area resi dents might do well to consider revival of the old-time house parties once so popular in rural communitiesThat would certainly please Lewis Koch. Beloit, who has completed a re search project on Old-time Music in the Rural Community ” Lewis is also an advocate of the old-time fiddlers' con test, an event he plans to re-create this spring in StoughtonAn independent photographer who does mostly documentary work. Lewis may be remembered as project director of a documentary on Janesville's industrial labor unions called 'Joined Hands Funded by the Wisconsin Humanities Committee, the project included a 1978 exhibit at the Janesville Public LibraryAlso funded by the Wisconsin Human ities Committee is his current project, some of the results of which may be seen in a photograph exhibit through March 15 at The Wheatberry Restaurant.Working with him on the research isPhil Martin. Madison, a folklorist and fiddle player Phil begin researchingLEWIS KOCHabout three years ago with the intention of creating a book on the subject of social history surrounding fiddlers and other old-time musicians We became friends.' Lewis says, and in the last year I have been doing photography along with the research As a result of the grant funding we re ceived. we are going to create several public programs which include a re-cre ation of the Stoughton fiddlers contest which was quite an event in 1915-1935 We are also planning a traveling ex hibit and a taped slide show for circula tion to libraries around the state as well as a couple of radio programs for radio station W HA In their travels throughout the state, Lewis says they found that the fiddling tradition has been most active in Norwegian communities In those communities the fiddlers played quite a role in terms of entertainment at house parties where in rural areas 10 to 15 families would gather every weekend at a neighbor's house There would be dan cing all night until the sun came up and it was time to do the chores, he relates During visits with rural folks. I^ewis savs thev came across many delightfulUnited Families Stage National Opposition to Federally Funded Family Planning ClinicsSALT LAKE CITY (AP) Susan Roy lance doesn't want her children getting contraceptives behind her back And if she had a teen-age daughter who became pregnant, she'd want to know about it before the girl could ar range an abortion Many Utah parents say they feel this way, even if the U.S. Supreme Court says they have no right to interfere with their children’s sexual decisions They say that is why they are trying to stop federal funding, both in Utah and in other states, for Planned Parenthood, a privately run. but federally subsidized network of family planning clinics Mrs Roylance is helping organize aInhhv rallfwi I nifpH Families nf Ampri-Parenthood in Utah will have to apply directly to the Department of Health. Education and Welfare, or work out agreements w ith county health officials Concentrated opposition to Planned Parenthood’s work among teen-agers has cropped up in only a few other states, says Eve Paul, the association's vice president for legal affairs in New York The Mormons don’t like us very much,’’ she*said “The opposition hasn’t been quite so violent elsewhere ” Seventy-two percent of Utah residents belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon church Planned Parenthood’s Laurie Gustafson admits the agency has an image nroblem in Utah But she also esti-anecdotes One old farmer described a neighbor of his who was such an avid fiddler that if he was out plowing in the fields and a tune came to him. he would just let the horses stand, go back to the house, pick up his fiddle and start playing,'’ l^wis saysAnother fellow we heard about wasn t doing too well as a farmer, so he took up selling tonics and linaments. Lewis recalls He would go around from neighbor to neighbor and, as often as not. would bring his fiddle and start playing He would leave a few hours later having forgotten to mention the product he w as trying to sell ‘in our studies we found that fiddle playing and music in the home was a very lively tradition here in W isconsin, he continues This was before the days of radio and records, so people had to depend on their own resources Howev er. w hen automobiles arrived and shortnationwide, and 70 percent of Utah's teen age brides are pregnant at the altarParents are really good at talking about morals, but they re not very good at talking about venereal disease and sex education. van Dyck saidi’m not opposed to contraception, al though I know some people are. said Mrs Roylance, who recently moved to Murray, Utah, from Washington state 1 feel that is something parents and churches should handle, not a federally funded, private agency Mrs Roylance claims Planned Par enthood encourages sexual immorality by publishing pamphlets for teens that Doke fun at chastitv and use street voly after that electricity people found It easier to go to nearby towns and cities for their entertainment, he says in terestingly enough, it seemed like the final blow for the House Party era was wall to^wall carpets which most farms now have It’s hard to roll up the rug as in olden days for a dance ’And that, of course, is just what was done, he explains Some people would also carry all their furniture outside in eluding the kitchen stove so they could dance throughout the houseThe fiddlers wou' I stand in the corner and be accompanied for rhythm by a w ife or daughter on a piano, or per haps by someone on a guitar or accordi an. and off they’d go dancing until dawn, he says We are focusing research on the Stoughton area,' he explains it was found to be particularly rich in this tru dition and was for 20 years the site of a fiddlers’ contest ’’ For the competition,larw is says prizes were donated by local merchants often a fiddler would come home w ith a bag of flour, horse collar or a mantel clock he says The judging took piace over several different categories including a prize for the best fiddler, funniest, tallest and best looking fiddlers This year's re ere ation of the event is scheduliHt lor April 19 in Stoughton with the site yet to be de termined Among those invited to par tlclpate are Emil Simpson from Janesville Accompany mg the W heatberry exhlb It are anecdotes and stories that have come directly from the fiddlers who an1 seen in the photographsVSB ConnectionGUARDIAN ANGEUS Adult men and women 18 and over, needed to become a friend to elderly and retarded persons living in nursing homes Visits can be as little as once a month at the convenience of the visitor (’all Mary Clough. Kock County Association for Retarded Citizens, 754 .1247GROUP VOLUNTEERS is an ellec tive wav to assist public institutions (schools museums, hospitals, llbrar lesi to provide superior service Eor an organization to accept a project or a program us its reponslbility Is to assure continuity of interest and success If an organization wants to find some way to participate in a community service, It should recruit Its memtiership and call the Volunteer Service Bureau, 115 E CourtNEW AND INFLUENTIAL The Criminal Justice Volunteer Devel opment Center of UW Madison has lH*gun a series nf training programs for volunteers who are involved in niuklag decisions affecting offenders The ld#a is for voluntary boards and criminal justice profession!* to work togethor more effectively In reducing crime anfl delinquency and to improve Hie admin ist rat ion of JusticeThe Volunteer Service Bureau, 11:* N Court, is a central agency for recruit ing interviewing and referring vok unleers where needed( Photo by Lfwn Kor hiSelmer Oren, Stoughton, is among fiddlers pictured In an exhibit at The Wheatberry Restaurant
Newspaper Details
Janesville Gazette
Janesville, Wisconsin, US
Mon, Mar 03, 1980
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Uw -.
WI, USA 16 Dec 2023
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