Inventory of the Fiddler's Grove Collection, 1968-2000

Collection Number 20016

Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

Manuscripts Department

CB#3926, Wilson Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890

Phone: 919/962-1345

Fax: 919/962-3594

Email: mss@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

Processed by

Elizabeth Matson and Steve Weiss

Date Processed

May 2004

Encoded by

Elizabeth Matson

Date Encoded

May 2004

Descriptive Summary

Repository

Southern Folklife Collection

Title

Fiddler's Grove Collection, 1968-2000

Call Number

20016

Extent

About 7450 items (13.5 linear feet)

Language

English.

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access

This collection has restrictions to access. Please see details below or contact the Manuscripts Department for more information.

Usage Restrictions

Use of audio and visual materials may require production of listening or viewing copies.

Provenance

Received from Harper Van Hoy in October 1990 (Acc. 89008, 89009), February 2000 (Acc. 98553), August 2001 (Acc. 99061), October 2001 (Acc. 99096), and February 2002 (Acc. 99183).

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Fiddler's Grove Collection #20016, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Bluegrass music.

Clog dancing.

Country music.

Fiddler's Grove (Union Grove, N.C.).

Fiddlers--North Carolina.

Fiddling--Competitions--North Carolina--Union Grove.

Folk festivals--North Carolina.

Folk music.

Hancock, Nick.

Herbert, Hoyt.

Martin, Jimmy.

Meade, Guthrie T., 1932-1991.

Music festivals--North Carolina.

North Carolina--Songs and music.

Old Time Fiddlers' Convention (Union Grove, N.C.).

Old-time music.

Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival (Union Grove, N.C.).

Robertson Reid.

Smith, Betty N.

Stanley, Allein.

Union Grove (N.C.)--Songs and music.

Van Hoy, Harper.

Watson, Doc.

Historical Note

Fiddler's Grove, an old-time-music and family-oriented campground, was developed on land purchased in Union Grove, N.C., by dairy farmer and fiddler Harper Van Hoy and his wife, Wanona, in 1970. From the beginning, Fiddler's Grove was envisioned as the site for an annual fiddling competition. Central entertainment events at Fiddler's Grove have been the Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival, a spring fiddling competition held annually since 1970, and the Square-Up, a fall clogging dance competition held until 1982.

The history of Fiddler's Grove, and particularly the Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival, is rooted in Van Hoy family history and the history of fiddling competitions in Union Grove, N.C. In 1924, Harper Van Hoy's father, H. P. Van Hoy, a school teacher and musician, started the Old Time Fiddlers Convention as a fundraiser for the Union Grove school. Held annually on the school grounds every Easter weekend, the fiddling convention was a popular community event that brought many area old-time fiddlers into the small unincorporated town of Union Grove to compete. With the folk music revival in the 1950s and 1960s, however, this small-town community event became increasingly popular with young people who would travel great distances to attend. The unconventional lifestyles of many of these young people, particularly their long hair and consumption of illegal drugs and alcohol, disturbed many residents of the conservative farming community. After the 1968 convention, a group of Union Grove residents, led by a Methodist minister, protested the immoral and illegal conduct attributed to the young people attending the event from outside the community. The Iredell County School Board decided that the fiddling convention would have to find a new home after the 1969 event. Harper and Wanona Van Hoy purchased land near the Union Grove school with the intention of developing Fiddler's Grove into a family campground that would be the new home of the fiddling convention. However, Harper Van Hoy and his older brother, J. Pierce Van Hoy, disagreed over the direction the convention should take. The disagreement resulted in two rival fiddling events being held each spring in Union Grove from 1970 to 1979.

Since it was no longer a fundraiser for the school, Pierce Van Hoy felt the convention should be promoted and developed commercially into a profitable business while promoting and preserving old-time music. He held his event on his farm and called it the World's Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Convention. Financially committed to Fiddler's Grove, Harper Van Hoy felt it was important to focus on the music and the community by creating a family atmosphere and enforcing a ban on alcohol and illegal drugs. He called his event the Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival and received early support from Doc Watson, Lee and Jean Shilling, Alan Jabbour, and Allein Stanley, among others. While the World's Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Convention attracted large crowds and was immediately financially successful, Harper Van Hoy's Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival deliberately stayed small, despite early financial losses, by implementing an invitation-only attendance policy in 1973. Both fiddling events were held simultaneously in Union Grove over Easter weekends. After newspaper accounts erroneously reported drug-related incidents and other problems occurring at the Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival instead of the World's Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Convention, Harper Van Hoy moved his festival to Memorial Day weekend in 1974 distance it from his brother's festival. Community residents continued to protest the influx of illegal drugs, alcohol, and promiscuity attendant with the huge crowds at Pierce Van Hoy's World's Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Convention. The enactment of a bill to regulate rock festivals and other mass gatherings eventually resulted in the closing of the World's Championship Old-Time Fiddlers Convention by court order in 1980.

Fiddler's Grove continued to host the Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival on Memorial Day weekend along with a number of other events. The Festival's commitment to the preservation and perpetuation of old-time music is particularly reflected in its special competition categories of Old-Time Fiddler (fiddlers 55 years and older who play strictly by ear with no formal violin training) and Heritage Tune (in which the fiddler must not only perform but tell the origin and story of an old tune). The Square-Up, an annual dance competition, held over Labor Day weekend was an institution at Fiddler's Grove until 1982. This dance competition featured traditional mountain, precision, and smooth clogging teams as well as individual buck and flatfoot dancers. Fiddler's Grove and the Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival were nominated in the Local Legacy category by Senator Jesse Helms as part of the Library of Congress Bicentennial in 2000.

Collection Overview

The collection provides an overview of the history and operation of Fiddler's Grove in Union Grove, N.C., and its main annual entertainment events, the Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival, a fiddling competition held in the spring, and the Square-Up, a clogging dance competition held in the fall until 1982. The work of Harper Van Hoy and Wanona Van Hoy in building the reputation of Fiddler's Grove as a gathering place for old-time music and family entertainment is documented throughout the collection. Also documented is the split between Harper Van Hoy and his brother, J. Pierce Van Hoy, which resulted in two competing Van Hoy-operated spring fiddling events in Union Grove, 1970-1979. General correspondence, newspaper clippings, promotional material, and other items go back to the founding of the Old Time Fiddlers Convention by Harper Van Hoy's father, H. P. Van Hoy, as a fundraiser for the Union Grove school in 1924. Festival materials include participation registration information, lists of winners, judges' notes, and correspondence, and other items. Also included are open-reel tapes, an eight-track tape, compact discs, and a videotape, all of which relate to the Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival.

Organization of Collection

1. General Materials
1.1. Correspondence
1.2. Clippings
1.3. Fiddler's Grove Promotional Materials
1.3.1. Brochures
1.3.2. Posters
1.3.3. Program Books and Schedules of Events
1.3.4. Mailing Lists
1.3.5. Press Releases
1.3.6. Album Production and Sales
1.4. Library of Congress Local Legacies
1.5. Miscellaneous Fiddler's Grove and Related Materials
1.6. Van Hoy Materials
2. Festival Files
2.1. Ole Time Fiddler's & Bluegrass Festival
2.2. Square-Up
3. Audio Visual Materials
3.1. Open-reel Tapes
3.2. Eight-Track Tape
3.3. Compact Discs
3.4. Videotape

Items Separated

Items separated include oversized posters (OP-20016/1-3), an oversize volume (V-20016/S-1), compact discs (CD-1619 - CD-1620), open-reel tapes (FT-3854 - FT-4057, FT-11785 - FT-11821), an eight-track tape (8T-81), and a videotape (VT-20016/1).

Detailed Description of the Collection