Berkeley Farmers' Market STRING BAND CONTEST

The  Berkeley Farmer' Market String Band
Contest is the centerpiece of the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention (BOTMC) which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. It is an informal and
inclusive celebration of American string band music, of many different varieties, where old and new friends gather to make music together. All kinds
of musicians come out of the woodwork: plenty of fiddles and banjos playing old
time and bluegrass, but also mandolins playing Italian tarantellas, jug bands,
Jewish music from the Carpathian mountains, Irish jigs and reels with step
dancers, Mexican fiddle tunes with bajo sexto and accordion. Twenty bands
compete for bags of wooden nickels, redeemable for fresh produce at the
Berkeley Farmers' Market, which sponsors the contest and is located next to the
park where the event takes place. Signups to participate in the Contest start on Sept. 1; info at the

BOTMC website: www.berkeleyoldtimemusic.org. The band Big Hoedown will be featured in an intermission performance.