BERLIN – Berlin will have three new groups at this weekend’s 24th Annual Fiddlers Convention, according to Community Economic Development Director Ivy Wells.
The one returning group, Blind Wind, will open the event with a performance Friday night and a second set Saturday.
Blind Wind is a local group featuring blind harmonica player Cole Moran and his dad Frankie.
The group won last year’s convention among various genres of music, but the Berlin Chamber of Commerce says Blind Wind will focus their sets on bluegrass and fiddling songs for the upcoming event.
New competitors in the lineup for this weekend include The Country Grass and Friends, Audie Blaylock and Charm City Junction.
The Country Grass and Friends is the only other local group.
Based in Berlin, Country Grass has been performing for 36 years. The band has since taken on different members, but has continued to play bluegrass, western and country music. The five current members will perform a “gospel jam” Sunday afternoon.
The other two groups, Audie Blaylock and Charm City Junction, come from Garrett, Ind., and Baltimore, respectively.
Blaylock, however, is no stranger to Berlin.
In past years, he played with the band Redline at the Fiddlers Convention.
He will perform as a special guest Friday evening.
Charm City will join Blaylock and Blind Wind Friday evening with a second performance Saturday.
The Baltimore band, a group of four young men, will play songs from the bluegrass, folk and roots style.
The music competition will follow the acts Saturday afternoon.
The convention will start at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 23 and will finish 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 25.
The event will provide seating, but Wells suggests attendees bring a chair.
Additional parking will be provided at Berlin Intermediate School and the Casino at Ocean Downs, where free shuttles will bring people to and from the event.
The convention will also have locally sourced art and jewelry, food vendors, and a fiddling class, according to the chamber administrative assistant Harrison Albert.
Food vendors include the Lions Club, a local deli, a snow cone truck, a kettle corn vendor and a Burley Oak tap truck, Albert says.
“The convention is a tradition in Berlin and we look forward to it every year,” Wells says. “It is a great way for the community to come out and have fun.”
For more information on the convention, including biographies on the bands, visit http://berlinchamber.org.
