It’s Jamboree time here!
This time of year Smithville, county seat of our county, invites everyone in for the Fiddler’s Jamboree and Crafts Festival. This is the 39th year for the event. It’s the biigst thing that happens all year in these parts, draws tens of thousands over its two day run.
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| Young cloggers take the stage to dance to some good old time music at the The Smithville Fiddler's Jamboree and Crafts Festival. |
The Jamboree was our first introduction to the area way back in 1977. We’ve been here that long. A third of a century.
Over those years I developed a real fondness for the music the Jamboree celebrates: old time bluegrass and mountain music still popular throughout the South. All acoustic: guitar, banjo, mandolin, upright bass, dobro, dulcimer, and the fiddle of course.
I now know many of the old time standards contestants play during the various events. Can even strum a few myself on the guitar. One of the joys of country living is to sitting on the front porch in the evening, watching the hills and hollows slip into darkness, strumming some chords on the guitar.
There was a time when that was the only regular entertainment folks in these parts could enjoy, after a long hard day’s work. The Jamboree helps keep those traditions alive.If you're ever in these parts the weekend nearest the Fourth of July it’s worth the trip to Smithville. AN dif you don’t know what clogging is, well, y’all come.
