Image: A film still showing performers at the Fiddlers’ Jamboree (SPRA 0001.10.01.12a-b, Fonds 001: Pioneer Museum Society of Grande Prairie & District fonds)
Movie Monday highlights videos from the Archives’ film collection. Every week, an archival film will be featured on our YouTube channel and here on our blog. The Movie Monday project is made possible with the generous funding support of Swan City Rotary Club of Grande Prairie.
Today’s Movie Monday will be of special interest to our music-loving followers. The featured video is an excerpt from the 1999 Fiddlers’ Jamboree – an event organized by the Grande Prairie Museum.
The first Fiddlers’ Jamboree (held in 1988) was not only organized by the museum, but hosted in the venue’s community room as well. The event was a great success and was held in the Golden Age Centre the following year, in order to increase capacity. Eventually the jamboree outgrew these facilities as well, and in 1999 (the year this film was taken) it was moved to the Grande Prairie Regional College for its 12th Annual edition.
Today, more than thirty years after its inception, the Fiddlers’ Jamboree remains a popular community event. Each year, the festival draws performers and spectators of all ages and skill levels from across Western Canada and the Northwest Territories. Genres of music played at the event include country, bluegrass, and Irish fiddling. The jamboree provides a unique opportunity for fiddling enthusiasts to celebrate the diversity of their craft, while preserving the heritage of fiddle music than spans generations.