Fiddler's

 

I have 3 favorite Montana summer events; Small Town Rodeos, Summerfest and the Fiddler's Picnic. Fiddler's Picnic is a strange and wonderful spontaneous gathering that happens in a field just outside Livingston. It is billed as a gathering of some of the top, and not so top Fiddler’s from all around the area but it is actually a gathering of many different types of musicians who come together for this one weekend. Very little is planned but you can be sure that Saturday night is the highlight. There is no fee, you just park and follow your ears. There is no schedule of who plays together or who plays where or even who plays…it is just a big spontaneous explosion of music. At any given time you can find many different groups playing, some large, some small, some traditional, some alternative, country, western, gospel…you name it but don’t bet on it because it is just whatever the moment dictates.

Having said that Saturday night is the best night, I must now confess that I didn’t go Saturday night…Scott was out of town so I stayed home with my musical beans and chose to go Sunday morning with Jessica. (My little sister with Big Brothers – Big Sisters) Sunday morning is a lot more subdued but still fun. The weather wasn’t great and most people had gone home….or were sleeping off Fiddler’s hangovers from the night before… so there were only two options that we could find, the old-timers doing gospel music and then the other…not really young…but younger…group doing some more contemporary stuff.  I took Jonathan and danced around with him to the music…an elderly couple smiled at us and the woman asked, “This Grandma would sure like to hold one?” So she got David and shortly after her husband got Jonathan and Jessica and I enjoyed the music, and the boys enjoying the music, and the Grandma and Grandpa enjoying the boys enjoying the music…and we laughed and giggled and smiled at the Fiddler’s Picnic.