Plans are now in progress for The Jeffersons Rotary Club 39th Annual Old Time Music and Bluegrass Fiddlers Convention, which will be held July 31 and Aug. 1 at Ashe County Park.

Vicky Moody, President of the Jeffersons Rotary Club, knows that collaboration will be the key to this year’s Fiddler’s Convention which is why she and members of the steering committee are working closely with musicians to make sure the event will be one to remember.

The Fiddler’s Convention is held annually by the Rotary Club to help raise scholarship money for deserving students. Since the inaugural convention, the event has risen over $550,000 in scholarship funds and has brought in between $10,000 and $12,000 annually.

Moody explained that attendees will notice several changes in this year’s event. For one, the convention will expand into a two-day event. Plans for a designated camping site are also in the making for annual gathering. Moody is also working with Jan Caddell of WKSK on the possibility of a live broadcast of the convention during the event’s peak hours.

In order to bring about these revolutionary changes, Moody explained that a steering committee was formed to help organize the event and to ensure that the musicians’ requests were noted and taken into consideration. One of the requests that prospective musicians made was to schedule the event at a later than normal date to ensure it did not coincide with other regional contests. Musicians also requested that the judges’ panel should be comprised of knowledgeable and recognizable officials.

“The judges should be someone the musicians can look at and say ‘hey that person really knows his old time or his bluegrass music,’” Moody said.

Another reason for the changes in this year’s convention is the need for the Rotary Club to cater to the individual wants and needs of the participants as well as the guests.

“I don’t care how well we organize the convention, if it is not something the participants and audience want, we are dead in the water,” Moody explained.

Another change in this year’s fundraising convention will be in the naming of the actual scholarships. In honor of the JROTC’s cooperation in managing the event’s parking, a scholarship will be named in their honor. Another scholarship will be named in honor of a local who is involved in athletics who exhibits extraordinary sportsmanship.

For more information on this year’s Fiddler’s Convention, please contact Vicky Moody at (336) 977-1427 or visit www.ashefiddlers.com, a site that is a work in progress.