MOKANE, Mo. - Even the impartial judges couldn't resist tapping their toes at times Sunday during the Old Fiddlers Contest.
The contest takes place every year during the Mokane Lions Fall Festival. These days, it memorializes beloved local fiddler Jake Hockemeyer, who died in 1997. However, the contest stretches back much earlier than that.
"As far as I know, this fiddling contest goes back to the very beginning of the 'World's Fair' as a main event," said Jim Buffington, local historian and chairman of the fiddle contest.
The festival is affectionately nicknamed the "World's Fair," referencing a joke made by a radio disc jockey in the 1950s, and it's even older than that. This was its 68th year.
Buffington said the area has a rich fiddling history.
"I can't say how I got started," admitted Kenny Applebee, a contestant in the senior division. "It grows on you. If you hang around us long enough, it'll grow on you, too. Eventually, you'll end up playing guitar or fiddle."
It's a tradition passed down through friends and family. At least two of the 14 competitors used fiddles they inherited from a family member.
"My dad was a fiddler, and this is his fiddle," Connie Hohman, of California, said. "I have a pink fiddle I usually use, but I wanted to play a contest with my dad's fiddle."
She said her father had "trained it well."
Roger Watson's fiddle was even older.
"I inherited my great-grandfather's fiddle, and that sparked my interest," said the Kahoka resident. "(Though I played as a young boy), I picked it up again about five years ago."
The fiddles aren't the only things passed along through the years. Many fiddlers learn their songs from other, older fiddlers as well.
"My father was a left-handed fiddler, as was Jake Hockemeyer," said Kathy Summers of Bourbon. "I met him when I was 15, right after I picked up the fiddle. I sat with him under a shade tree, and we played a few tunes together."
That was 45 years ago.
"Music was their entertainment back then, rather than playing an Xbox or a Nintendo," Summers said. "Whether or not you were any good, you'd get together and play."
While a few fiddle songs heard at the contest were contemporary - or even composed by one of the contestants - many dated back decades or beyond.
"It's a longstanding American tradition, one of the best," Watson said. "Radio tunes are generic. You usually can't tell who you're listening to. This, though, is Americana at its best."
Summers said the judges look at song choice, along with things like technique and good timing. Songs should both fit the fiddling tradition and be less commonly heard, she said.
Many of the fiddlers were accompanied by guitarists. They're part of their own folk music tradition, according to one accompanist.
"You have to have good rhythm," said Robert Mackey, who accompanied his wife Cynthia during her first contest performance. "There's a certain style, too, that goes along to the old-time fiddling. I believe it's called (bluegrass) rhythm guitar."
Each fiddler in the senior and open division played three pieces, including a waltz and a hoedown, while junior fiddlers played two. Despite the heat and humidity, the crowd stayed put, clapping enthusiastically for each piece and staunchly ignoring the tantalizing aromas from the nearby food court.
"We've had an hour and twenty minutes of fiddle music, and the crowd is still here," Buffington exclaimed toward the end of the contest. "That says something."