May is for flowers and they are blooming beautifully as we enjoy longer days and promises of summer coming with the campouts, farmer’s markets, Fiddle Camp, and all things outside. While May is best known for Mother’s Day 5/12 and Memorial Day 5/27 others include: May Day, May 2nd is Play Your Uke Day, Cinco de Mayo (think Cielito Lindo and Jesse Polka). May 5th is also World Laughter Day! World Fiddling Day is May 18th, the day of our last District business meeting until September. Good tunes for that day might be Give the Fiddler a Dram, Me and My Fiddle and Jim the Fiddle Maker. Here’s a new one to me… May 22nd is Buy a Musical Instrument Day. So go out, spend your money, try a new instrument and keep making music! Most musicians I know already have a collection of instruments and struggle with G.A.S.~ Gear Acquirement Syndrome. Enjoy and celebrate!
At our April District Business meeting, we heard from 4 young fiddlers who will be granted scholarships for Fiddle Camp this year. We hear there might be a few more interested and look forward to getting them on board. Kay has been volunteering with a violin class through the South Kitsap School District and encouraging students to attend camp and some of our jam sessions. We aspire to get some younger folks interested in Old Time music….Good job, Kay and Thanks! We continue to have the first hour of our monthly business meeting jam without sheet music so we can develop that Old Time skill of playing by ear~sometimes a challenge but feels good when one works it out. Growth.
SAVE the DATE….October 19th. We are planning a workshop of Irish tunes for our monthly business meeting in October. Bill recently discovered Tania Opland and Mike Freeman and they’ve agreed to do a workshop for us. Tania has joined a couple of our jams and we enjoy her skill and look forward to the workshop. Check them out https://opland-freeman.com/
Again, Save the Date for our Labor Day campout at Kitsap Square Dance Association, Belfair Valley Rd in Bremerton. 2 nights camping, jamming, playing for the Square Dancers, hamburger pot luck, breakfast and more. Stay tuned….. Several of us will attend the Quilcene Campout in June. Always fun to get together with our friends from other districts. And then there’s Fiddle camp in July!
Playouts:
5/24 Clearbrook
5/29 Country Meadows
6/6 Liberty Shores
6/112 Willows
6/13 Canterbury
7/11 Crista Shores
Other plans for playouts: Sand and Sawdust in Oceanshores June 28th and 29th https://tourismoceanshores.com/sand-and-sawdust-2023/ ; and Farmer’s Markets in Bremerton, Port Orchard and Poulsbo later in the summer. August 17th, we’ll have a booth at the Olalla American Music Festival https://olallaamericana.com/#:~:text=Festival%20date%20is%20August%2017%2C%202024. Keep an eye on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/WOTFA5/
Contacts for scheduling or attending playouts: Sharon Habener habs_@msn.com or Kay McCarthy kaycmccarthy@gmail.com
We’re Jamming every Tuesday, come join us. First and Third Tuesdays of each month next door to Dick’s Sporting Goods in the Silverdale Mall from 1-4pm. We are heading back to the Barn in Belfair in May for the summer 1-4 on Tuesdays that we are not at the mall. The Barn is located at 600 NE Roessel Rd, Belfair at the Salmon Center, a lovely setting. Dress for the weather, for while we are covered and protected from wind and weather, it can be chilly some days. We have a good turnout, have fun and welcome all comers. Hikers/walkers frequently stop and listen, it’s a great place to walk along the Hood Canal. Join us! Bring some friends.
See you soon. Keep playing and laughing….the Best medicine.
District 5 Chair: Kent McCabe dkmccabe0723@gmail.com 360-830-0317
Respectfully submitted: Reporter, Sandi O’Kelly s_okelly@msn.com