The west concord dance saturday, October 19th, 2024

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West Concord Historical Society and Museum (WCHS)  600 West First Street, West Concord, Minnesota.

The Minnesota State Fiddlers Association and the West Concord Historical Society are teaming up to present a full day of fiddle music and dancing from the immigrant days of Minnesota. These tunes are the polkas, schottisches, two-steps and waltzes that our grandparents danced at house parties in the area.  To get an idea of how fun these dances are,  here's a video from the Nordic Fest Street Dance in Decorah, Iowa in July, 2024.

The day will feature workshops for acoustic string players taught by our guest artist, Beth Hoven Rotto. She’ll teach tunes that were played by fiddlers in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, and will provide tips on playing for dancers.   Here's an example of the kind of music we'll be learning.  

Two historic fiddles on display at the museum will take the spotlight during a hands-on presentation. Most notably, David Quackenbush (1853-1929), an early resident of West Concord, owned the local music store (and bike repair shop), and led the Quackenbush String Band.  His HOPF violin that was repaired by OM Robinson is now owned by the Museum.  Quackenbush even lived in the same era, and area, as Charles "Pa" Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie.  It is certainly a fiddle with lots of interesting stories to tell! Panelists will share these and other  interesting stories behind these fiddles, demonstrate tunes, and give others a chance to play them as well.  

The day will wrap up with a dinner and dance open to the public and led by our guest artist along with community musicians. 

Planning your Visit - Click HERE for details on the facility, food options, schedule and other details. 

11:00 AM – Registration, brown bag lunch, jamming, museum tours

12:45 – 1:45 PM – Workshop with Beth Rotto

2:00 – 3:00 PM -     West Concord Fiddles presentation

3:15 – 4:15 PM –    Workshop with Beth Rotto

5:00 – 6:00 PM –     Dinner Break and Silent Auction featuring two heirloom fiddles and three 

                                           collectible tractors (see photos below).

6:30 – 9:00 PM –     Dance featuring the New Quackenbush String Band and Beth and Jon Rotto

For detailed registration information, click HERE or email msfafiddlers@gmail.com

Beth Hoven Rotto graduated from Luther College in Decorah in the 1970’s and has lived there ever since. She is a dancer and fiddler who has studied, recorded and performed the music of the Driftless Region for many years. In 1988, Beth began an apprenticeship with Bill Sherburne, the fiddler at Highlandville Dances, which she attended in an old two room schoolhouse. She then formed the band Foot-Notes, and they carry on the tradition of dances there since Bill Sherburne passed away in 1991. Her band recorded Decorah Waltz in 1996 when they were invited to the Smithsonian Institution’s 1996 Festival of American Folklife in Washington, D.C. In 1998, Foot-Notes recorded My Father Was a Fiddler. . . in honor of the Decorah area’s rich heritage of dance music, which came from tunes Beth collected from the daughters and granddaughters of some of the early fiddlers. In 2022, she became an Artist-in Residence at the University of Wisconsin – Madison to review hundreds of hours of cassette tape recordings from Arnold Munkel (1918-2003). Munkel was a mechanic and welder from Spring Grove, Minnesota who devoted much of his time to documenting Norwegian-American folk and old-time music played at events in southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s. Beth has been listening to these tapes, transcribing and teaching these tunes to a new generation of fiddlers.